Counsel Therapy
by Flooded Minds
Summary: Hinata is a shy girl with a stuttering problem all throughout her whole life. She goes to see therapy about her stuttering problem, hoping to leave it in the past. There she meets Naruto and soon, many exciting adventures await. AU. Lemon. HinXNar, GaaXSak.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, this is my first attempt on a NarutoXHinata fanfic. Please be patient with me.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor will i ever will.**

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><p>Counsel Therapy<p>

The blonde haired boy drank his just now made coffee. It was ten in the morning and he was relaxing in his office. His main job was to counsel stressed, tired, enraged, and confused patients. He loved his job dearly and he gets a high wage payment for his hard work. He looked out the window and saw the gloomy gray sky. It was the middle of November so it the leaves on the trees had fallen already. He saw a small figure walking towards the building he was in. He continued to watch but smacked his head on the window because it was in his way. He then heard a slight knock on the door. "Come in!" he yelled.

A girl with midnight blue hair walked in. He could see how shy she was since she didn't bother moving an inch away from the door. _That's right. She made an appointment earlier_ Naruto thought and recalled when he got a phone call last night.

"Please come in." he said cheerfully. The girl silently walked in to the room. Please have a seat here." He said and gestured her to sit down on the nice soft black reclining chair.

"Hyuga-san, is it?" he asked and the girl nodded.

"What can I do for you today?" she smiled.

"W-Well, y-you, see, because of m-my s-shyness, I c-can't w-work p-properly."

"What do you mean you can't work properly?" he said as he began writing down notes.

"I-It's just that, I', too s-shy to f-function correctly, l-like t-talking to people. I s-stutter a lot. I-I want to b-be able to s-stop doing t-that, but n-no matter h-how many t-tongue twister s-sentences I s-say, I-I can't seem to s-stop stuttering."

Naruto finished scribbling and smiled a caring smile, "Well, it depends on what you're shy about…" Hinata gasped slightly when she saw the breath taking smile.

"E-Everything." She said and blushed a bit.

"Everything? Like…?" he said and leaned closer to her. Hinata tried to find some personal space that she had before, but thanks to the armrest there was none available. "L-Like, w-will they g0get mad a-at me if I s-say this, or a-are they going to b-betray me, or-"she stopped when she heard him chuckle. "W-What's s-so funny, Uzumaki-san?" she questioned.

"Please, call me Naruto, Hinata-chan." He said and Hinata's heart thumped once. "Now…" he said and leaned close to her, so close that Hinata shut her eyes. "It's more of a fear, than being shy." He said closely to her ear. He backed away quickly and at the same time, Hinata opened her eyes and turned towards him to see chuckling. "That's enough for today, Hinata-chan. tomorrow; if possible, U would like to come over to see a preview of your daily life." He said. "It's part of my job." He added.

"I-I see, y-you may c-come i-if you like then." She said.

"Then it's settled. I'll see you tomorrow, then." He said with a smile.

"Mm." she said quietly and walked out of his office gracefully. She walked back to her elegant five story apartment that wasn't too far away. She walked inside her apartment and sat down gently and noticed she was shaking. She took noticed of the increased heart beat. She told herself to calm down and to relax. It helped a bit. She checked the clock and noticed she was late for work. Yes, she worked for the Hyuga Corporation her father owned. She quickly got dressed and sped out the door, driving herself quickly to her destination.

Once arrived, everybody was hustling and bustling to get everything down. She found her office and was surprised to see a huge stack of paper. With a meltdown she quickly skims read the documents and scribbled her signature. It was at least two hours before she got all the papers signed. She looked at the clock. She had fifteen minutes before the meeting she was supposed to attend to start. She walked to the cafeteria and saw a long line of people waiting for their coffee to be ready. She decided to walk to the nearest café shop, which happens to be her favorite one and right across the street. She saw her good friend Sakura working there as a waitress. Her hair was gracefully put up in a bun while the remaining stray of hairs cascading down.

**(A/N: you can go to google and type in Sakura Haruno kimono and you can see how her hair looked like)**

"Ohayo (good morning), Hinata-chan." Sakura said. "The usual?"

"Y-Yes, please." She said and Sakura marked down her order and quickly attend the same very scary looking customer who had red hair that came to café every time he had a chance. After few minutes, Sakura came back to her with a sweet smell of vanilla coffee in her hand. She sat down across from her with a smile. Seeing Sakura smile made her smile every time she saw it. "How's work today, Hinata-chan?"

"B-Busy, but i-it was o-okay…" she said and sipped her cup.

"Well, we're doing okay today. It's hasn't been busy in a long time. We're getting enough customers barely to make it out alive."

"T-that's not r-really good, S-Sakura-san." She said.

"I know. If the customers don't show up, then we'll have to shut down in the next two months," she said with a sad smile.

"But!" she said really loudly even for her, "I-I don't want i-it to c-close…" the shy girl said.

"Neither do I… If things don't turn around soon, I'm going have to shut down." Sakura said and stared at the hollow restaurant except for the cooks in the back and three people including her sitting down. The man with red hair got up slowly and said, "Thank you for the meal… It was delicious." And walked out the door. Sakura quickly got up as Hinata did too. "S-Sakura, I h-have to go t-to a m-meeting. I'll p-pick you up t-tonight." She said. "Mm. Thanks." She said and continued to pick up the plates , bowls and cups left by the man. There was something like green paper hidden under the pile of dishes. It shocked Sakura. It was a fifty dollar tip! She stood there paranoid. _Why would he leave a fifty dollar tip… I think he misread it and thought it was a five dollar bill… Yeah, he misread it…. He misread it…_ Sakura thought. She tucked in the fifty dollar bill in her apron and continued to clean up the mess. At least the person wasn't a messy eater, right?

The meeting lasted over hours and hours. Hinata started to fall asleep, but woke herself up by pinching her arm under the table. She checked the time and noticed it lasted on for at least eight hours. A new record settled by the meeting. The debate when on for another hour. Nine hours now. When they finished wrapping it up, Hinata stormed out of there and packed up all the documents she needed into her handy dandy briefcase and ran outside the building. Sakura was waiting outside for her. Sakura wore a nice long red coat with a pink scarf with sakura flowers on it.

"Gomen nasai (sorry), S-Sakura. T-The meeting took l-longer than ex-expected." She said and bowed down to a perfect ninety degree angle position.

"Its fine, Hinata-chan. You're a busy woman after all." Sakura said waving the whole situation off. "Let's get going. It's probably going to snow tonight." She said and looked up at the sky.

"Y-Yeah." And they both entered her nice looking car. "Hinata-chan. You know that man with red hair that always come to the café earlier today?"

"Y-Yeah, w-what about h-him?" she asked not taking her eyes off the road.

"Well, when he left, he left a really big tip." She said.

"H-How big?"

"Fifty bucks." She replied.

"T-That is quite b-big."

"Yeah, but I'm not going to keep it."

"T-Then what a-are you going t-to do with i-it?"

"Use it for the café restaurant." She said. "It will help the restaurant in a way."

"I-I hope so, S-Sakura." And she stopped the car.

"Thanks for driving me, Hinata-chan." She said and waved goodbye. Hinata smiled and waved goodbye as well. She then headed home to her apartment.

Sakura and she had been friends ever since Hinata stumbled upon her café. At that time she was all weary and tired and was in depression. Sakura gave her one of her best coffee which happens to be vanilla coffee and at that moment, she fell in love with it. She came by the café whenever she had the chance and ordered the usual. The cooks in the back adored her hard work and were always friendly, though she had never seen them before. She never had a car because she thought it was too much of a hassle to pay the overpriced gas money that harms the environment. She always took a taxi in exchange or ride with Hinata's car. Sakura worked hard every day to meet each month's dead time. At first the café was really popular and had many others working, but soon after the ice storm that blocked that certain area and had to be reconstructed, it taken nearly a year before it was finished. After that, everybody forgot about that restaurant on that street. It was big downfall to Sakura. She worked hard to come up with new recipes for the restaurant, but she gained nothing but blistered fingers.

She took her briefcase out and walked inside the building. She took the elevator and pressed the number five indicating the machinery to go to the fifth floor. She waited and heard a ding and went into the hallway. She slid the keys into her the keyhole and walked in. She sat her briefcase down and took a shower.

It was ten when she finished. She decided to work on some projects left by the company. There was a request that they do something about people's health, and to do some sort of therapy to encourage to protect their health. Hinata thought for a moment and suddenly the image of Naruto popped up. She shook her head and remembered that he was coming to see a preview of her daily life. She looked around her small but yet elegant apartment. There was nothing misplaced or anything except the pile of magazines on the coffee table. She organized them and looked around again. Perfectly spotless and clean. She looked out the window and saw that snow had started to fall. It was beautiful and white. The stars in the sky were covered by the clouds but the moon shone beautifully. Her phone was ringing. She quickly answered it. It was Sakura.

"Hinata-chan? What are you doing right now?"

"N-Nothing. J-Just watching the s-snow falling."

"Me too."

"W-Why did y-you call m-me, S-Sakura?"

"Nothing. Just… wanted to talk… That's all." She said but Hinata, for sure, she heard a hint of her voice cracked.

"A-Are y-you sure?" she asked really worriedly.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, really." She said. Hinata was not convinced at all.

"W-What's w-wrong, S-Sakura?"

"R-Really, it's nothing." She said and for sure again, Hinata heard something like scrunch of paper.

"S-Sakura, today, I w-went to the c-counsel t-therapy, you m-mentioned l-last time…"

"Oh, you did?"

"Y-Yes…"

"How was it? Did it help."

"W-Well, it's j-just the b-beginning. W-We talked a-about a f-few things and h-he said t-tomorrow, t-that he w-would like to c-come over to see a p-preview of my d-daily life…"

"Oh, and…?"

"A-And… I l-let him… I-Is t-that o-okay?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm not coming over to your place anyways, so you're basically free to do anything for the morning…" Sakura said sounding like some mother letting her daughter doing whatever she wants with a boy.

"Y-Yes, I k-know, but…" she said at first. "but, h-he's…"

"He's what? Weird?"

"N-No…"

"He's what then?"

"I-I don't k-know how to s-say it…"

"…You don't know how to say it?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Are you infatuated with him?" Sakura said really curious.

"M-Maybe…" she said and blushed madly when she heard the word 'infatuated'.

"Hinata-chan I have to meet him! You have work tomorrow right? Whenever you have time, come to the café with him, please."

"A-Alright." Hinata said and she heard Sakura giggled a bit over the phone.

"See you, tomorrow then, Hinata-chan." She said and the phone clicked and Hinata sat the phone down. She looked out the window and saw the streets were covered with blankets of snow. It was dazzling when she saw them glistening in the dark night under the street lamps. She looked back at her paper work and continued scribbling down her signatures while reading carefully at every contract slash document that she has. Her father would be really furious if she had signed a document that demanded something more of what they could afford. Her cousin Neji was not what you call on good terms. He hated her. He despised her, but he never harmed her. Only the verbal words did. He called her a failure. His most famous quote burned into her head. _"Once a failure, always a failure. You can't change that."_ She shook her head violently and decided it was time for her to sleep. She headed to bathroom and brushed her teeth and got ready for bed.

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><p><strong>So.. What do you think? Review please.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I meant to update yesterday but I got called in for work so... yeah. Also i used an app on my iPod to type most the story out. Sorry if it's a message collage or something. I do try my hardest.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
><strong>

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><p>Hinata woke up to the sound of her alarm ringing. She gently turned off the alarm. She yawned and looked out the window. The snow had stopped fallen and left the roads a muddy mess, while the sidewalk was clean and had been sprinkled with salt. The sky still looked like a gloomy gray. She walked to the bathroom and fixed herself up. She changed into her business uniform which consisted of a white shirt, a navy blue jacket and a matching tight blue skirt. She, of course, was not the revealing type. She decided to do some paper work before Naruto would come. Of course, they never told each other the expected time. Hinata looked at the clock that read ten o' clock. She began to finish up the paper work.<p>

After a while, the clock read ten thirty. A knock was heard. She scrambled from her spot. She opened the door and there was Naruto smiling at her. "Ohayo, Hinata-chan. Man, it snowed heavily last night. I had to clear the snow from my car. Sorry, if I was late." Naruto said though there was no expected time. "O-Ohayo, N-Naruto-kun." She said. "I-It's fine. P-Please come i-in." he walked inside the apartment. He wore a business like suit except without the jacket so it main consist of white shirt, a tie, black pants, and leather shoes. He wore a trench coat over all of that.

He could compare how beautiful it was to his. She had an office room and two bathrooms, both with a shower. The kitchen was quite vast itself. There were two bedrooms. One was definitely hers and another. It was bare in that room except for a big bed and an empty closet. _Her boyfriend, possibly _he thought. "W-Would you l-like some c-coffee?" she asked. "I would like that." He said and Hinata scurried into the kitchen. Naruto took off his snow-wet leather shoes and walked around the apartment, hoping she won't mind.

He went into her room. He looked around. It was neat. The bed was made. Her sleeping clothes were neatly put away. The book shelves filled with business major topics were neatly stacked upon her desk. He picked up a photo frame, and looked at it. It was a picture of her and a girl with pink hair and they were happily smiling. He set it back down and went to the office. A laptop, more book shelves, and papers cluttered the area. He helped pick the papers off the floor and used the paper clips, which she had in the corner of her desk and neatly clipped the documents without messing up the order of the papers. He made a pile of stacked papers, and noticed yet another photo. He picked it up. _A family photo?_ He thought. He looked at it closer. _It looks like a family of business workers. Is that her brother?_ He couldn't tell since everyone had the same eyes as her. Hinata didn't smile, and neither did everyone else in the photo. He took out his pen and notepad and scribbled some notes.

He walked back out and sat on the couch. It was incredibly soft, and he almost sank it. He fixed himself up just in time for Hinata to come out with a tray filled with sweet smell of coffee.

"Arigato, Hinata-chan." He said and took a mug. Hinata took her cup, inhaled it and exhaled the smell. She sipped her drink.

"Hinata-chan, tell me, where do you work?"

"A-At the H-Hyuga Corporation." She replied.

"I should've know that." He said and mentally smacked himself in the head.

"I-It's alright, N-Naruto-kun." She said. "It's t-time to g-go to work a-anyways."

"Great, I'll follow you." He said.

They both reached outside and Naruto looked at her amazing car. It just made his car looked like a piece of junk. They both got in her black Toyota, and she drove both of them to their destination.

Once arrived, she rushed inside, running. He ran along with her as well, and looked around. He saw many people with grim faces from the lack of sleep. Hinata rushed in her office. She saw another pile of papers ready to be read and signed. She sighed and she took out her briefcase.

She stapled the necessary documents together while Naruto pulled up a chair flipped it around so he's leaning forward against the back of the chair comfortably watching her work. There was a line of people and they stared at him with a 'why is there a man in Lady Hyuga's office?' look. She on the other hand stuttered upon her words while introducing him and apparently they were a line of clients and workmen altering to get business down. It was about four hours later that she finally finished with the last client. She sighed heavily and Naruto asked, "is this what you do all day at work?" he asked since he got bored of sitting down and observing the same thing over and over. "Y-Yes," she said quietly.  
>"I see... Doesn't it get boring after awhile?"<br>"W-Well, not r-really, there's d-different topics to d-discuss with d-different clients." she said.  
>"Oh, I see." and then a female looking male, walked in. <em>Her brother?<em> He thought. Hinata froze in fear. "N-Neji-San w-what can I d-do for y-you?"  
>"do you have that document ready? The one that I gave you two days ago?" He asked fiercely. She searched around her desk. She swore she had it done. Naruto gave her one of the stacked papers and she gladly accepted it and handed over to Neji.<br>"Who is he?"  
>"M-My t-therapist." she said and looked down. Neji looked at her with confusion and then looked at the documents. He read a couple of lines and then blew up on her saying how useless she was even to compose a small documentation of the project. Hinata looked down in fear as Neji kept lecturing her even to the point of declaring her a failure in which Naruto looked at him with wide eyes and looked at Hinata who was shuddering every time he said the word 'failure.' he took note of that and kept his mouth shut for that moment. Neji threw the document back at her and "Please, fix this!" and stormed out of her office with a huff. Naruto looked at he who was still looking down at the ground. "Are you alright?" he asked gently. She lifted her head in sadness and fear and replied, "Y-Yes, I'm a-alright..." She said but Naruto knew better. He took out his notepad and scribbled in it.<br>"Well, I thought you did a great job dealing with the customers. Unlike me, I'd probably blow up at them after dealing with the fifth client, but I like my job." he said.  
>"T-Thank you," she said and gave a small smile. "I'm guessing that you have to redo it, huh?" and she gave a nod.<br>"That's harsh." he said. "Who was that? You're brother?"  
>"N-No, he's my c-cousin."<br>"why does he act like that? Does he hate you or something?"  
>"Y-Yes, he h-hated me ever s-since we w-were young. H-He holds a g-grudge against the m-main branch f-family."<br>"why?"  
>"I-It's a f-family m-matter."<br>"Please, tell me what happened when you were little?" he pleaded.  
>"S-Sorry, Naruto-kun, I-I c-can't say it." she said almost cracking her voice. Naruto took a moment to pause and then finally said, "Alright." it about three and they decided to have lunch. Hinata promised Sakura to show her the man she was infatuated with. They walked across the cold barren streets with cars bustling. They entered the infamous <em>Sakura Flower Cafe<em> where Sakura worked at and saw the same red haired man that came almost every day, eating his desired meal that he ordered earlier before they came. He always looked extremely pissed or tired since there were nice big black rigs around his eyes. Sakura greeted them, "Konichiwa. Weather's lovely isn't it?"  
>"K-Konichiwa, Sakura-San." Hinata said. "O-Only, you w-would like the w-weather." she answered. The truth was, Sakura did like the gloomy weather. The sunny weathers made it hard for her eyes to adjust in the sunlight. It always hurt her eyes. "Who's this?" Sakura asked politely pretending not to know.<br>"T-This is N-Naruto-kun. H-He's the t-therapist that you t-told me t-to go s-see." Hinata said and played along.  
>"Hi, I'm guessing you're Hinata-chan's friend." Sakura nodded and shook hands with Naruto.<br>"Pleasure to meet you."  
>"Pleasure's all mine." he replied.<br>"Hinata-chan? What would you like today, since you brought a friend?"  
>"S-Surprise me, S-Sakura-San, but I w-want you to c-cook."<br>"Oh? You want me to cook? Are you sure?"  
>"Mm." and nodded her head once.<br>"Alright, I've been trying this recipe out for awhile. Please be my taste tester for this and please understand that it will take a while." she said. They both found a place to sit and Naruto asked her a few questions and took notes.  
>"So, she's a good friend of yours?"<br>"S-She's actually m-my best f-friend." she said.  
>"Oh, I see. Can I ask why did she ask if it was okay to cook? I mean, she sounded unsure if she could cook..."<br>"S-Sakura-San owns t-this c-cafe, actually. She's w-worried that s-she can't meet the n-next payment d-deadline. It used t-to be popular h-here, b-but after the i-ice storm a y-year ago, e-everything just w-went down h-hill for h-her. S-she comes u-up with a lot o-of recipes for the c-cafe, but s-somehow s-she always c-cancels them and s-says that t-they a-aren't good enough for the r-restaurant. I m-mean, she would a-always be e-excited and l-let me h-have a t-taste of it, but in the e-end she s-says i-it was t-trash. I p-personally, liked it. It always t-tasted g-good." Hinata explained very thoroughly.  
>"Wow, really. Seems like she's under a lot of stress."<br>"N-Not really, she a-always puts o-on a smile. It's h-her s-signature." Hinata said.  
>"I see. What about the employees? I don't..." he looks around. "see much people here..."<br>"s-since she's a-afraid of not m-meeting the d-deadline she either f-fired them, or worked them r-really hard so they w-would quit, that way it s-saves money, e-even though she unintentionally f-fired them, she had to do what s-she has to do." Hinata explained thoroughly yet again.  
>"Hinata-chan, it seems you know a lot about Sakura. Tell me, when did you two meet?"<br>"a-around last y-year, before the i-ice storm."  
>"I see. Hey, is her cooking good?"<br>"T-The best..." she replied.  
>"Really, I can't wait to try her cooking. By the way, I've never really heard of this place before. I've only heard of the one down the street, the one called <em>Delectable Matsuri<em>."  
>"I-I've never h-heard of I-it."<br>"I'll show you sometime whenever you're free" he said with a gentle warm smile.  
>"Thank you," Hinata said and smiled back with a light heavenly glow of pink in her cheeks. Sakura came out with the sweet smell vanilla cream with a hint of strawberry. It turns out to be a cake. A small cake to be exact. Under the dim lights of the cafe, the cake itself sparkled like it was just born. Naruto practically drooled over it at the sight.<br>"Alright, thanks for waiting." and she took a knife and began cutting it into slices. She had plates for them and handed them each with a slice. The man with red hair looked at them and the sparkling cake. He kept starring and wondered who had made the cake and guessed it was the pink haired lady named Sakura. Sakura caught him starring and smiled at him with a "Would you like one?" everyone turned their heads toward him and he didn't reply. She quickly made a slice for him and handed him a slice with a fork. He looked at the woman and back at the plate. He took the fork and gently forked it and took a small bite of the cake. Never in his life has he tasted something this good.  
>"Is it good, everyone?" Sakura asked with a smile. Hinata and Naruto took a bite as well.<br>"Sakura! This is the best cake ever! I've never tasted something this good!" Naruto said. Apparently he's high on sugar.  
>"S-Sakura-San, I b-believe Naruto is r-right. It t-tastes r-really good." Hinata said with a smile.<br>"I agree, this is really refined. Your cooking skills are superior" the red haired man said for the first time. Sakura gave a big heartwarming smile. Somehow that man gave a smile back which shocked her and Hinata, but she kept her cool.  
>"Sakura! Where did you learn to cook like this?" Naruto asked with his mouth stuffed full. Hinata gave a slight giggle. The first giggle he ever heard all day.<br>"Naruto, chew, and swallow." Sakura said urgently. Naruto noticing that he did as he was told.  
>"What's wrong?"<br>"you could've choked." Sakura said calmly.  
>"Well I bet you know bow save someone from choking." Naruto said.<br>"Well, I kinda do, but I'm not skilled." Sakura said sheepishly.  
>"So, you can save my life then, no?"<br>"Well, I can, but not very well, since I haven't had anybody choking in my restaurant." Sakura said.  
>"S-Sakura-san w-went to m-medical s-school before," Hinata noted.<br>"Then Why aren't you a nurse or doctor now?" Naruto asked very curiously.  
>"It's a job that requires strict, absolute, hard working, back aching, and emotional rising days. When you lose them, how are you going to face the relatives? How are you going to tell them that you lost them? When you see a patient who is constantly struggling, what are you going to do? You can only provide medication... if they pay" Sakura said grimly but then smiled. "So that's why I chose this job. I want to see everyone smile."<br>"I can see that." Naruto smiled and so did Hinata.  
>"Thank you for the meal, it was delicious." the red haired man got up and walked to the door.<br>"Chotto matte (Wait)!" Sakura exclaimed. The man stopped. "Yesterday, you left fifty dollars on the table. I think it's yours." Sakura said as she took his hand and placed the fifty dollar bill in his palm, but he grabbed onto her hand and said, "Yes, it is mine..." and flipped his hand over onto hers. "But I'm giving it to you."  
>"W-Why?" she asked with a surprised expression. He looked at the restaurant away from their eyes.<br>"I overheard you say that you will be closing your restaurant in the next two months. I really appreciate eating here. The food is delicious and it's relatively quiet." and with that he left through the door.  
>All three of them were stung when they heard that.<br>"S-Sakura, I t-thought that you w-were going to k-keep it?"  
>"I was, but I thought, he could've easily mistaken it for a five dollar bill." she said. "So I wanted to give it back to him."<br>"I s-see." Hinata replied and looked at the clock. "N-Naruto, we better g-go,"  
>"Bye..." Sakura said.<br>"Bye..." Hinata said.  
>"Sakura, next time I come over you have to make some of that cake!" Naruto said apparently still high on sugar. Sakura giggled.<br>They walked across the building and sky grew a bit darker. "Is it going to snow, again?" Naruto asked.  
>"I d-don't think so." Hinata replied. They entered the building again and the same business men wore the same expression as before. They walked to the same office again and then Hinata's expression changed. She was quite happy and smiling at the cafe, but now her face changed into something like fear and struggle. She sat down, took the documents that Neji spat her and reworked on it. "What went wrong with the document you worked on?"<br>"I'm n-not sure."  
>"here, let me see." Naruto said and she handed him the papers. It was about people's health and stress relief. He read the first page and found nothing wrong.<br>"I don't get it. Your composition on this is excellent and everything. I don't know why he would just blow up on you like that. By the way, your choice of a massage chair is excellent."  
>"M-maybe it's b-because I c-chose the massage chair." Hinata said.<br>"Well, I still don't seem to know why he would do that. A massage chair is an excellent way to relieve stress. The stress builds up in your body in a specific area and you just don't realize it. It just gets worse and tense." Naruto explained.  
>"Y-Yes, I'm well a-aware of that, but N-Neji-San. He..." Hinata paused.<br>"He what? Always yells at you for stuff like this?" Naruto asked and he was correct and she nodded her head. Neji, in the past had yelled at her, even though it was just a miscalculation, he won't let things go ever so slightly. He always took them seriously even if his underlings were joking around with jokes, he would tell them to get back to work or he would fire them. If he were to make jokes, they were sarcastic ones.  
>"N-Neji-San, he's a-always considered a g-genius and still is." Hinata explained.<br>"Oh, I see. So who is the next heir of the Hyuga Corporation?"  
>"H-Hanabi..."<br>"Who's that?"  
>"M-My sister…"<br>"Is she... younger or older than you?"  
>"Y-Younger."<br>"Why is she inheriting the company?"  
>"B-because my f-father said so..."<br>"Is your father the president of the company?"  
>"Y-Yes..."<br>"I see."  
>Naruto leaned close to her ear and said, "Look, I think you're the hardest working person I know. It looks like to me that something happened to change your fathers mind about the heiress and something tragic or not tragic at all happened in the family. So I don't think it's your fault at all even though you are related to the family by blood. It does not seem to be your fault at all. I really need to know this family tragedy, after all I am supposed to help you," he said very seductively at the last sentence.<br>"H-How do you k-know it was a f-family t-tragedy?" she said quite shocked and was blushing.  
>"Well when I first looked at his eyes, they were like..." and he deepened his to imitate something from a horror movie. "You...Murderer! And the way he say things are very fierce and demanding like someone demanding a ransom from some sort of kidnapping," he said and laughed slightly at his ransom joke and Hinata flinch when she heard that.<br>"Seriously, he was like... You murderer! And when how he has his hair really long, and at first I thought he was a girl, but then I thought it was a girl with long hair and very deep voice, and then I finally found out that it was your cousin..." he said trying to cheer her up which it did and she started laughing out loud. The people outside her office were a bit shocked to see Lady Hyuga to be laughing and having fun with her therapist. They starred at her for a moment and then she noticed and quickly shut her mouth. Naruto saw this and laughed out loud as well. His laugh caused her to laugh and who knew that laughing would be so addicting because some of the employees began laughing as well. They started off as little hehe's and then after one started laughing hysterically, the whole room exploded and then everyone were laughing. This made Hinata and Naruto laughed even harder. It was loud. It was very loud since the entire floor was laughing. Suddenly they heard, "QUIET!" and Hinata began to shake and shudder in her spot. The voice was old and rough. _The father maybe_ Naruto guess it right. He came down the hall with bodyguards behind him and walked down the aisle with a cane thumping the ground with each stride. Naruto looked at her and questioned himself on how scary the old man was. He came barging into her office and Hinata shook with great might.  
>"Hinata, you insolent daughter. You are supposed to be working, not horsing around. You will work diligently and quietly. IF I HEAR ANOTHER GIGGLE OR LAUGHTER IN THIS FLOOR, I WILL FIRE ANYONE! DO YOU HEAR ME?" Naruto shook when he yelled. Everyone on this certain floor yelled back, "H-Hai!" and continued to work. "Hinata, you are no longer part of the family that is for certain, but you are still something I created. If you still misbehave, prepare for a harsh punishment you cannot escape from." He said and with a thump of his cane, he walked out and returned back to the higher levels of the building. <em>I guess we were laughing so loud, that the higher levels heard us…<em> Naruto thought. He looked back at Hinata and tapped her on the arm. She turned towards him and saw him smile, which made her smile back. He quickly took out his pen and notepad, yet again, and wrote down some interesting details.

She continued on working on the project and nevertheless held a worried look on her face the whole time. Naruto added suggestions to the documents hoping to fix the first few lines that Neji spat at her. Hinata's facial expression didn't change at all though. He nodded her head then and there answering his questions. She never spoke a word. He decided to investigate some more. He got up abruptly and said, "I'm going to talk to Neji." He said and smiled to her. "Where is his office?"

"O-On the f-first floor, n-near the P-President's office." She said.

"Thank you," he said, With that he left her office and left her with the rapid beating of her heart. She blushed as she looked down towards the ground. He took the elevator to the first floor. Hinata's office was on the twenty-first. There was huge gap between them apparently. He took quick strides when got to first floor. He quickly found the male Hyuga's office. He knocked. "Come in." he said in a cold voice. When he looked up, he was a bit surprised. "You're her therapist… Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yes. It's required for me to know about my patient's daily life and what causes her anxiety. Tell me, are you her cousin?" he asked in confirmation.

"Yes."

"I've noticed the way you talk to Lady Hyuga in a very fierce manner. Do you hold a grudge against her?" he spoke in a rather very polite way. Neji was silent for a moment before he spoke, "What if I do? What is it to you?"

"It's part of my practice…" Naruto explained. "Please, describe Hinata in your terms of words." Again, Neji was silent.

"She is a fool. A failure, a mistake. She's weak. She's careless. Her progression is slow. Too slow. She was a failure when we were kids, and she's still is one. All weak people will never make it out alive in this world. Then, they are considered a failure, like her." He said.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

"Once a failure, always a failure. You can't change that."

"I see. Why do you consider her… a failure? Did she like never have the ability to surpass you?" he was a bit irritated.

"She never did, and she never will. I am a genius, after all." He said.

"What if when one day, she did?"

"Like I said, she never did, and she never will."

"I said 'what if'" he said.

"If she did, I still won't respect her for that. It irritates me just thinking about it." Naruto started to grind his teeth unknown to him.

"Why not?"

"That I cannot tell you." He said. "Is that all?"

"Yes. Thank you." He got up, took the elevator back to Hinata's office.

Hinata, who was still working quietly as ever, looked at the man in front of her. He was one of her clients. The Hyuga corporation specializes in medicine and eye care. Having the genetic inheritance of a good eye, Hinata can see that this man did not sleep very well last night due to back pain. She is no doctor but can only suggest the man to go see one. The man thanked her kindly and left. Naruto barged in really irritated, which shocked Hinata.

"Neji, that bastard…" he said grinded his teeth.

"W-What did h-he do?" Hinata asked very scared.

"Nothing you need to. It's amazing how he looks down upon people. Weak people will never survive? My ass!"

Hinata starred at him completely shocked. Up until now, all she saw in him was a happy man willing to help people around him. She quickly ran out the office and came back with a cup of sweet lemon tea that she made herself. He handed him the cup. Naruto took it and sipped it. It did calm him down surprisingly. "Thank you." He said. Hinata simply nodded and smiled back. She returned to working on her documentation about the project. She wanted to ask Neji what went wrong with her documentation, but she was too afraid of him. She quietly sat and scribbled stuff down. She looked at the document again and nudged Naruto, who was still thinking really hard, to have a look. She had a concerned look on her face and Naruto looked over the papers and said, "It's fine to me. Everything is fine. Yours words are correct and everything is fluent." he said. Her expression didn't change, so he leaned close to her ear and whispered kindly, "I'll go with you..." he said and she blushed silently and nodded her head. He gave the document back to her and they walked to the first floor. Hinata stopped at his office door. The employees were quiet for a moment when they saw Hinata at Neji's door. Naruto put his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. She returned a smile as well.

Neji heard a knock on his door and commanded it to come in. "G-Gomen, Neji-San. I w-want to give you t-the d-documents." Hinata said and handed it to him. He was slightly shocked that she came to him but he kept his cool. He took the documents off her hands. He read the same couple of lines. Then he read the next page. He sighed and looked at her. "You still don't get it do you?" he yelled. He took a deep breath and explained, "I agree that a massage chair is a good idea for stress relieve for hard working adults but what about teenage kids? There are kids that study hard and needs to relax as well. A massage chair can't help those since they are at risks of breaking their bones. The massage chair is only durable to the adults since their bones are more of eh..." he tried to find the word. "Refine in age." he finally said. "I admit, you are on the right track, but I'll take it from here." he said and kept the document. "You may go now." He said. Hinata and Naruto quietly walked out and he said.  
>"He wasn't that mean this time." he said.<br>"Y-Yeah..." she said.  
>"He praised you too, Hinata-chan." he said as they got on the elevator.<br>"Y-Yes," she replied back. "I-I'm deeply g-grateful, because of y-you, I f-faced him."  
>Naruto looked at her for a moment. The elevator only consisted of them two. He patted her head and said, "Nah, its part of my job." he said and smiled a genuine smile. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment and then it seemed time had stopped until they heard a ding. The elevator doors opened and walked out. Hinata silently blushed. They walked back to her office and continued working until it was time for to leave. She packed up her suitcase and noted to Naruto that she always leave at this time unless meetings took place. She grabbed her coat and Naruto got up and placed back the chair where he first found it. They walked out and everyone stared at them until they left their sights.<p>

Once outside, Sakura was waiting as usual in the brisk cold weather. She looked up at the sky where it was dark. The stars twinkled in the night time. _No snow tonight…_ She said and was a bit grateful. She liked the snow, better than hail. She never favored hail, and she never did when the ice storm came last year. The only reconstruction needed was the streets which she had to close her shop for over a little a year since the entire sidewalk was pretty ruined after the ice had melted away. She was concerned for awhile. She had to take a part time job working as a cashier at a local gas station. She hated it. She hated the smell of gasoline. It was always heavy and always made her want to vomit. She heard the sound of doors pushing out and turned her head towards that direction. It was Naruto and Hinata. They ran right up to her and greeted her.

"Sakura? Do you not have a car?" Naruto asked as they all got in. Hinata, of course was the driver. Naruto sat on the passenger side, and sakura sat at the back.

"I don't want one."Sakura said and everyone got comfortable.

"Why?"

"It's too much of a hassle to pay gas, and it's ruining the environment."

"Oh…"

"Hinata-chan! Guess what?"

"W-What is it, S-Sakura-san?"

"That man, he did it again. He gave me another fifty dollar tip!" she said.

"W-Why?"

"I don't know myself."

"Are you going to give it back to him?" Naruto asked.

"Nope, not this time." She said.

"I see." They finally arrived at Sakura's apartment. She said her thanks and waved them goodbye.

"Sakura, lives here, huh?"

"Y-Yes. She's n-not w-wealthy, but she's not p-poor." Hinata explained.

"I can tell." He said.

They reached Hinata's apartment. Naruto's car was still parked where he left it. They took the elevator to her floor. They entered through the door. Naruto took off his trench coat and so did Hinata. Hinata diligently hung the outer wear and offered to make hot chocolate. He politely said yes and began to scribble a bit more notes down. It was about five minutes when she was down. She handed him a cup and drank her own.

"You know, Hinata-chan, I think you should come by office tomorrow."

"Mm…O-okay." She said.

"I think it will take me one step further towards your stuttering." He said and drink a bit of his hot chocolate.

"I-I should r-really t-thank you p-properly, N-Naruto-kun…" she said really bright red and looking down at the ground.

"Why?" Naruto asked with a really curious expression.

"Y-You gave me the c-courage…" she said. Naruto simply chuckled at that. She slowly lifted her head. "W-What's so f-funny?"

"Let me tell you a secret…" Naruto said and leaned close to her ear. "Hinata-chan, you silly girl. You've always had that courage. You just needed a push, that's all." And suddenly she felt a slight lick to her ear. She was a bit surprised and thought he accidently did that. She blushed like a tomato and stuttered, "T-Thank y-you, N-Naruto-k-kun…" she said. Naruto laughed and said, "No problem. Glad to help." And he finished drinking his cup of hot chocolate.

"I better go, Hinata-chan." He said and reached for his trench coat. He slipped on his shoes. Hinata went to get the door for him, but when she tried to pull it open, something slammed it back shut. She looked up to see Naruto's hand on it. She turned around and was faced with Naruto. He leaned in on her and she shut her eyes close. He leaned towards her ear and, "I learned a lot about you today, Hinata-chan…" he whispered seductively and gave her ear a lick. A lick. This time it was on purpose and she knew. Her heart stopped and she froze in place. He smiled at her, opened the door, and left through the door. There was a moment of silence before Hinata snapped herself back to reality. She shook her head violently and then told herself to relax.

She sat on the couch and replayed what just happened and wondered if she thought it up or something. She pinched herself and of course, she was wide awake. She blushed madly. The phone began ringing and she quickly answered it. It was Sakura.

"Hinata-chan, how was it today?"

"F-Fine, S-Sakura-san…"

"…Is that all?" she asked.

"N-Not really…"

"Oh? What happened?"

"H-He's a b-bit w-weird…"

"How weird?"

"He w-would t-talk to m-me like a n-normal person would i-in front of p-people, b-but when w-we are alone, s-sometimes h-he says r-really…" She tried to find the word. "R-Really m-meaningful t-things…"

"That sounds like…"

Hinata waited for her response…

"He's infatuated with you!"

"I-I d-don't t-think s-so…" Hinata stuttered.

"Well, there's a fifty-fifty chance. It could be a practice of his… You just never know." Sakura explained. Hinata was silent on the phone for awhile before she spoke.

"S-Sakura-san?"

"Yeah?"

"H-Have you…" Hinata wanted to confirm on asking before she spoke. "H-Have you e-ever f-fallen in l-love with s-someone before?"

"Well, yes… Why do you need a few tips?"

"N-No, that's n-not what I-I wanted."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm j-just wondering about y-you, t-that's all. You d-do d-deserve someone s-special…"

"Well, thank you." Another moment of silence passed.

"Hinata-chan…?"

"Y-Yes?"

"What would you do, if the café closed?"

"I w-would be r-really u-upset…"

"Hm… I would too…" she said.

"I-Is there s-something on y-your mind?"

"No… just thinking… that's all."

"O-Okay…" the girl said really concerned.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I promise. I gotta go." She said and hung up. Hinata was a bit more concerned for Sakura. Sure she's suffering financially, but there was something in her voice when they spoke to each other that caught her attention. She couldn't pinpoint it. _S-Sakura-san promised, s-so she should be a-alright… She p-promised. She w-wouldn't b-break a p-promise…_ Hinata thought.

She decided to do a bit of work in her office. She looked around and noticed the papers were neatly stacked and clipped with paper clips. She wondered who could have done it. She couldn't put her finger around it so left it alone. She scribbled madly and worked hard since she had gotten a certain praise from Neji. She looked at the clock and noticed it was eleven. She then decided to take a shower and head to bed.

That night, she dreamed of a nightmare. A certain nightmare that she worked so hard to keep locked up in her heart. A memory that she never wanted to go back to…

* * *

><p><strong>Please, I suggest that you review. Tell me what you think. Tell me if it's OOC. I'm still a newbie at this... XP<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I guess you could say it's the beginning of love... but I'm just being mean and holding everything back until the time is right haha. **

* * *

><p>The next day, Hinata was already up and ready to go. She grabbed the necessary items and left the apartment building. Of course Naruto's office wasn't far away so she could walk like she did the other day. She walked in the brisk cold weather. The wind blew a freezing temperature and cheeks turned a bit wind burned red. She finally got to his office and went inside the building. She took the elevator. She reached his door and knocked twice. He told her to come in and have a seat which she obediently did.<p>

"Hinata-chan, how are you today?"

"F-Fine,"

"It doesn't look like it though, comparing how I can see the bags under your eyes."

"I-I'm fine, r-really."

"Okay." Naruto said as he got some equipment out. "Now I want you to just lie still and pretend that this ting isn't here." He wrapped some kind of plastic thing around her finger with a wire connected to it and from it, it connected to a machine with a monitor. From Hinata's point of view, the machine was right behind her quietly revving up. He then placed some suction cups on her head almost like he's using a lie detector except he's actually measuring her brainwaves.

"Okay, I'm going to put you to sleep for about thirty minutes. During those thirty minutes, you will dream and I will be recording your brain waves." Naruto said. Hinata gave a slight nod. He inserted some chemicals and slowly Hinata drifted off to sleep. Naruto watched as she slept soundly, but... Hinata had a dream. The same dream as the one last night. She squirmed, her hands clenched, her teeth were clenched, her eyes were shut tight, and she began to sweat. The monitor beeped rapidly as she kept clenching her hands tighter and tighter and as her dream kept reminding her. Naruto recorded everything. He was rushing to get calm her, watching the monitor and listen to her sayings.

"N-No… I d-didn't…" He listened closely.

"I-It's n-not my f-fault…" _She was blamed for something…?_ Naruto questioned in his head. Her dream shifted a bit.

"F-Failure… F-Fail… S-Stop…" _Present time now?_

"N-Neji-san…" she was quiet for a moment. "S-Suffer… more…" _She wants him to suffer more? It doesn't seem like she can do it… since she's … fragile…_ Naruto thought as he recalled what Neji described her.

"O-Otou-san…" _Her father?_ "D-Don't t-throw… away…" _Throw what away? _

She was quiet for a while. It was silent for ten minutes. She began to say, "A-Arigatogozaimashita (Thank you very much, the much formal way)…" _Thank you? Thank you to who? Me? _He chuckled at that thought. He grabbed a Kleenex box and pulled a piece of tissue paper and began to wipe her sweat away. She squirmed a bit and then relaxed. She began to wake up.

"N-Naruto-kun…"

"You woke up…" he said and smiled.

"H-How w-was it? M-My b-brainwaves…" she said.

"Just excellent. Thank you for that…" he said and removed some of the equipment off of her. "Now, I'll do some hypnosis."

"H-Hypnosis?" she asked.

"Yes… Hypnosis." He said and got out a pocket watch. "Just stare at the watch and follow it with your eyes." He said and began to swing left and right. She followed hesitantly with her eyes. Her white crystal eyes turned into a flourished gray. He saw this and began to say, "You're under my control now… You will do as I say…" he said.

"Y-Yes…"

"You will forget to stutter your words… You will never have to stutter… You can forget about stuttering… Just forget about it… When I tap you on the shoulder, you will wake up." he said and stopped swinging his watch. He tapped on her shoulder and her flourished gray eyes returned to a crystal white color. She looked up at him and said, "N-Naruto-kun, w-what just h-happened?" she said kind of embarrassed. _Aiya… it didn't work…_ "Nothing… I just put you in a trance that's all…" he said and smiled.

"I-I see…" she said.

"It's enough for today… Please schedule when you're going to come next time…" he said and quickly said in her ear, "I'll be waiting…" seductively.

She got up and bowed. She quickly left his office. _Did I scare her?_ Outside the office, Hinata took in a deep breath and let it out. Her face, peachy pink, blushed. She quickly walked to the elevator and went in. Really weird things have started happening around him and her lately and she doesn't know why. Should a therapist be doing that? It was just a comment, but it made her feel happy knowing that he'll be waiting for her during her next visit. What about that lick last night? Those licks on her ear? It surprisingly turned her on a bit, but therapists aren't supposed to do that right? She doesn't know.

She headed home and changed her clothes. She gathered up her needed things and put on a coat. She walked out the door, took the elevator and walked out the door. She then drove to work. She arrived and took the elevator to her floor. She walked out and saw her employees giving her the 'Where's that therapist?' look. She ignored them and walked into her office. Of course, it would be like any other day… more piles of paperwork except this time, it flooded her desk. She began to work and talk to clients. She could see that many had back pains and problems with their shoulders and neck. Did they not get enough sleep? No, it was not it. Are they stressed out? No, they wouldn't be doing that. Is it their posture? Maybe. She shook her head for a moment and when the clients questioned on her about it she simply lied and said she had a slight headache. She worked on paperwork for at most one minute before another client came and the process repeated until she saw to it that ALL the clients are attended.

She finally began working on paperwork. She wasn't disturbed at all. Her mind was focused on all the overflowing paperwork on her desk. It she got half the load down. She got up and handed all of them back to the employers who handed it to her or left it on her desk. She went back to her desk and continued to work diligently. Not a giggle or laughter was heard at all from the employers after yesterday. She didn't want to be burden in her family's name. Neji, after all was a genius. He helped several million people with their stress and pain in their bodies but ironically, he couldn't cure her stuttering. He never even acknowledged her anyways. After all, she was a failure in the sharp eyes of his. Why help a failure when they're going to fail no matter what? It's just plain simple. The equation Failure times Genius equals nowhere. Failure times Failure equals Epic Failure. Genius times Genius equals a greater Genius. There's no way around that equation. It's a simple math that he had always done in his head. It's just plain useless to help her, so he always stuck to his famous quote. _Once a failure, always a failure. You can't change that._ It's been engraved into her head. It carved itself into her head and she can't heal away the scars. Her only medication was to see Sakura. Sakura was her only friend, that's why she was her best friend. Sakura always comforted her no matter what.

It was perfectly three o'clock when she needed a break. She put some of the paperwork in her briefcase and headed outside. Once outside she ran across the street dodging cars. For some reason, today, there were more cars than ever. She survived the car rush and entered _Sakura Flower Café_ and saw the same red haired man. He was doing some work. Was a he a business man? Maybe. She sat at her usual spot and Sakura came over.

"Ohayo, Hinata-chan. The usual?" She smiled

"O-Ohayo, S-Sakura-san. Yes, p-please." She said. Sakura was tired. The look on her face told her she didn't sleep very well last night as well. She began to work. She got out the necessary papers that needed to filled out and be given away by the end of the day. After about five minutes, Sakura came back and handed her the vanilla coffee she was waiting for. She sat down across from her.

"Busy today?"

"Y-Yes…"

"No, therapist, today?"

"N-No…"

"Okay…" she said and let Hinata continued to work. She starred at her face. Hinata had a really determined face on. She thought it was kinda cute. She got up and began wiping tables even though they were already clean to begin with. She stared at the café restaurant thinking about what to do when she has to sell this place. She felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Miss Sakura, do you have any specials today?" it was the red haired man.

"Ah, no… sorry…" she said.

"In that case, could you please bake me another cake? I need it for tonight's dinner…" he said.

"Sure, how many people are eat?" she asked and smiled.

"Just me…" he said with a stoic expression.

"Oh, okay, but it will take awhile." She said and smiled again.

"Don't worry, I'll be waiting." He said and she went into the kitchen got right to work. The cooks stared at her in disbelief when she told them that there's someone that actually wants a to-go dinner. Her hopes were high and she worked hard. She had a smile on the whole time and the cooks named, Fey and Satoshi, looked at her with curious eyes. They were quite impressed by Sakura for she finished cooking really quickly. She decorated the cake with icing and cut up the strawberries equally and planted them on the cake. She quickly and gently put it in a box and wrapped it up with a red ribbon, courtesy of the _Sakura Flower Café_ trademark on it.

Outside the man was back to sitting down at his usual spot and was waiting patiently. He could smell the delicious scent of the strawberries. It was close to her scent, but hers was more… alluring. He continued to work on his own paperwork. He had a rough day. He had his brother and sister nagging at him about a girl that won't leave them both alone. To tell you the truth the girl drove him nuts. Not like love stricken nuts, but going madly insane nuts. He is the president of his father's company but he doesn't need bodyguards. He's strong… unusually strong. Strong enough for his siblings to fear him and run the company. He could take someone down instantly. It's killer instinct that tells him to do it. Every single match, whether it's gun shooting, or hand to hand combat, he won. Nobody looked him in the eye and nobody could. They would cower and they would bow to cover up their act of looking down towards the ground. Although she was the first to look him in the eye and her eyes stared at his and he could swear that those beady emerald eyes told him 'I'm not afraid of you…' and he was the first to advert his gaze whenever they first met which was a year ago as well.

He saw her come out with a box. His order was done. He walked up to the counter to pay for it but she walked past it and walked right up to him and said, "Here you go." With her signature smile.

"Don't I have to pay for it?"

"Actually, you are the first to ask for this, and it's not put up in the shop yet, so it's completely free." She said.

"I see… Your skills are perfectly and highly refined and honed. I do enjoy eating your cakes." He said.

"Thank you, sir." She said with the best smile.

"Gaara…"

"What?"

"Call me Gaara." He said.

"Mm!" she smiled and nodded her head and walked out the door carrying the box with him. Sakura sat back down across from Hinata who finished her coffee. It looked like she finished a stack of papers and was still scribbling mad. She watched her carefully. Apparently, she wasn't the only who was tired. She could see bags under Hinata's eyes as well. She wondered what else could have happened last night. She looked at the clock. Hinata should be going back to the office.

"Hinata-chan, it's time for you to go back…" she said. Hinata looked at the clock and panicked a little. She quickly began to gather her papers not carrying what order they go in and put on her coat. She buttoned and stuttered her goodbyes and left. Sakura was all alone with the cooks in the restaurant.

Hinata raced down the street. Thank Kami-sama for there was no car rush. She entered back the building and quickly used the elevator. It carried her to the twenty first floor. She got out and ran into her office. She needed a break. A vacation possibly. She almost slammed her heavy briefcase full of papers on her desk. She opened it and began working once again.

Night had fallen and Hinata finished. She was glad, because her fingers were numb from moving back and forth along with the cold air in her office. She looked at the thermostat and it told her it was room temperature. It was just her. She was feeling a bit cold so she put on her coat. She felt hungry. She finished her work for tonight. No homework for her tonight and then she left.

She quickly got out of the elevator and headed outside. Sakura was there as usual. She waved at her and she waved back. The wind blew heavily and Sakura's pink scarf followed the direction of the

They got in the car and they made themselves comfortable.

"Hinata-chan?"

"Y-Yes, S-Sakura-san?"

"Guess what happened today?"

"D-Did you g-get any c-customer?"

"Actually, no."

"T-Then, I don't k-know…"

"You know that red haired man?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Do you know his name?"

"N-No, w-why? Did he t-tell you? I-I was t-too busy w-working…"

Sakura giggled at first and then said, "Yes, I noticed. Yeah, he told me to call him Gaara."

"G-Gaara? L-Love for O-Oneself?"

"Apparently so, and guess what he did?"

"O-Ordered a c-cake? I h-heard it…"

"Well yeah, but this time, he left one hundred bucks!"

"O-One hundred? W-Why?"

"I don't know… he was probably pitying me…" Sakura said and looked towards the window and sighed a heavy one sigh.

"W-Why would h-he pity you?"

"I don't know…"

"W-Well, I think y-your r-restaurant is t-the best, S-Sakura-san." She said hoping to cheer her up.

"Thank you." Sakura said and smiled. They arrived at her apartment and she got out. The wind blew again and face felt wind burned. "Oyasumi (Good Night)!" she yelled as the wind howled around her.

"O-Oyasumi!" Hinata replied back and drove off. She reached home and collapse on the bed. She was a bit hungry and went to her fridge to see what she can cook. She didn't have much but it's enough to make a small dinner. She washed the rice and set it in the rice cooker. She then began chopping up some broccoli and a bit of ham. She boiled the broccoli in the pot and fried the pieces of ham on the pan. She finished cooking the toppings now all she has to do is waiting for the rice to be done. She heads to the bathroom to take a shower while the rice is still cooking.

After the shower, the rice had finished and she was ready to eat. She placed everything in a neat and orderly fashion. She grabbed the chopsticks and with hands in praying manner and said, "I-Itadakimasu (A greeting of meal)" and she ate away. She finished up and said "G-Gochisosama (a closing of meal)." She washed the dishes and checked the time. It was eleven. _It's pretty unhealthy to eat late at night…_ she had recalled Sakura telling her. She decided to go to bed a bit early. Oh wait, she needs to plan for another meeting with Naruto. She ran to the calendar that was hanging off on a random wall in her apartment. Tomorrow? No, there's a meeting she needed to attend early in the morning… What about the day after tomorrow? No, she needed to go to a short business trip to another company… What about the day after that? Yes that should work… She then decided to read a book about the business meetings and rehearse and thinking up the many possibilities that the man or woman could ask and came up with answers. It was almost twelve when she finished rehearsing, and she yawned mightily in the palm of her hands. She decided to rehearse some more but the god or goddess of sleep drifter upon her and while she rehearsed in her room, she collapsed and fell into deep slumber.

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><p><strong>Please review. I know i'm being mean. They'll be together soon, i promise. And i keep my promises.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I might as well warn that Hinata MIGHT be OOC in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO.**

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><p>As for the next few days, Hinata was busy with work. She told Sakura that she'll be in meetings and on business trips so she won't have time to visit her like she normally does. She hadn't called Naruto yet, since she was extremely busy. Sakura had wished her good luck and work hard before she had left over on the phone. With that she had been on countless trips almost all over Japan, and meetings that needed to be attended, but the best thing was that her desk was paper free.<p>

Sakura, on the other hand gained a new customer. She didn't bother to ask for his name, but she served him kindly and with her whole heart. The new customer however smoked in her restaurant. However much she tried to get him away from smoking, it was useless. It was his addiction, but he was also brilliantly smart. She hated seeing him smoke in the cafe, even though she doesn't have a 'Do Not Smoke' sign. She once tried to take his stick and threw it in the trash bin, but he pulled another stick out. She pulled that one and dumped it in the trash bin, but he pulled out another one. She then took his whole package of cigarettes and threw it in the trash can. Thinking she had finally won, he smirked as he pulled another packet out. She admitted defeat and hasn't budged him about smoking at all.

Of course, her red headed friend, Gaara, also came everyday never missing an afternoon evening. Sometimes he would ask for take outs and sometimes he tipped a hundred bucks. She gladly accepted it each time he came and goes. He would order a meal that consisted of rice, fish, some vegetables, and a cup of coffee. Those fish weren't up on the menu, but she had to convince him to eat some meat. He was bone skinny and at first he denied to eat any meat, she then joked that saying 'what you think there's poison in it?' and laughed but she was the only one laughing and noticed how serious he was. She tried to prove him wrong by having the cooks cook him a dish of fish, salmon to be exact. He fell instantly in love with the flavor. Every time she had the cooks cook him salmon, he always harbored the flavor.

Naruto came into her cafe once, asking where Hinata had been. Sakura told him that she was away on business trips or at meetings and warned him not to bother right now. He asked why and she explained that their company always does this everyone once a month. He looked a disappointed but with a huge relief. After that, he spotted one of his patients, Gaara.

"Hey, Gaara!" he said. "How are you doing?"

"Fine, Hn." he said coldly and continued eating.

"You know him, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Yup! He comes to my office for counseling. If you didn't know, he's-" he was cut off with Gaara having his hands over Naruto's mouth. "I'm his patient..." he said and continued to eat his delectable dinner. Sakura sweat dropped from the scene. Naruto ordered some coffee and sat down on the booth that Hinata told him where she always sat.

"Looks like, he didn't want me to say it." Naruto finally said.

"Yeah, by the way, why are you looking for Hinata-chan?" she asked.

"Well I asked her to schedule for an appointment, but I haven't received a call at all. I just hope I didn't scare her away. That's all."

"what do you mean, you didn't mean to scare her away?" Sakura questioned with a menacing look on her face.

"W-Well, I told her that I'll be waiting for her when she returns, after that she left my office... Really fast" he said.

Sakura relaxed at that comment. "Oh... Say, what do you think of Hinata-chan?"

"what I think of her? Well..." he sipped some of his hot coffee. "She really cute, pretty, and nice." he said.

"Is that all?"

"Well, she has a bad past too which affects her mentally." he said. Sakura nodded her head not knowing what Naruto really thinks of her.

"So, how's the cafe doing?" he asked.

"Fine, I guess," she said.

"Well that's good."

"we don't know for sure." Sakura said shaking her head.

"Don't worry! You're restaurant will still be here in the next two months! I'm sure of it!" he said giving her the famous playful smile.

"Thanks." she said and she heard some yell, "You're food was delicious!" as he left. She turned around and saw that the smoker dude had left. She quickly yelled back a "Thanks!" and hoped he heard it. She sat back down and continued to chat with Naruto. By the time they finished talking, her red headed customer said his farewells too. Naruto decided to leave as well as he needs to get back to work dealing with his patients. Sakura wished him good luck and she watched as him leave.

She picked up the plates that her three customers had left behind. The red head left fifty bucks this time. She actually wondered what company that he came from. The smoker dude left some spare change around two dollars. Naruto secretly tucked in five dollars under the coffee saucer plate. She was a bit surprised from this, but smiled at it. She continued sitting at the restaurant doing completely nothing except reading her books in the medical field. She has to keep up with her medical abilities right? She can't sit around the restaurant lazing around forever and that's why she brought out the big college textbooks and began reading from where she left off.

Hinata attended meetings where she lost count. She was called for the umpteenth time to go to the meeting room. Missing her coffee buddy, she went to a cup of coffee and surprisingly the line was short. Usually it would be cluttered with people making five big cups at once. She took her time as she gathered her stuff in her hands and grabbed her big cup of coffee.

This time, the meeting was about stress. It was held by Neji. She paid closely attention to what he was saying. He told the people at the board meeting that the world is suffering from stress build up, which could eventually lead to some people's death. She understood some this. He kept speaking and asked people what they had suggested. Some suggested that they build more parks as to where people could release some stress by exercising. Others said to build a gym for people with more stress build up. It was great ideas indeed but he then told the people about a massage chair. 'A massage chair?' the one that Hinata suggested in her document? No, no... It can't be right? It was her hard work. She worked her butt off on that one. She listened closely as Neji described all the mechanics and functions. Her adrenaline pumped in and her pulse sped up. This can't be happening. She gulped down and heard what Neji said. Wait... Didn't he say that there was something wrong with the document? Yes, he did, but... There are some changes on it.

"Adults can have a massage chair to massage their sore tired muscles along with elderly people. The functions of the chair will include back massages, shoulder and back tapping, and arms and legs scrunching."

There were many board members talking amongst themselves whispering something like "... as expected of the prodigy..." Hinata sank in her seat as she knew it was HER document to begin with. How can he go so low? Why? Hinata wanted to cry but she held her tears in. She continued looking at Neji who continued to explain it.

"As for younger kids, they could use heating pads for stiff muscles that knot and cramp. They could use a variety of devices that allow them massage their back, shoulder, neck, arm, and legs muscles." and he handed some sort of blueprint images of the devices. "There should also be an ointment for headaches and it should be universal and not for children under the ages of seven." he said as he smiled knowing that it's his victory win. That was new. It wasn't in her document but the massage chair was... She kept her eyes on him, but it was useless. He avoided her gazes and continued to achieve the board members foolishness. Almost all of them were astounded that the prodigy can come up something even in their everlasting life years could they ever can. They were all captured by his intelligence.

The meeting ended with a record of three hours. Hinata quietly and slowly walked up to Neji.

"N-Neji-San, isn't t-that my document I-I handed to y-you?" she said as she pointed to the stack of papers perfectly clipped.

"You're probably wondering why I didn't give credit now, are you?" he said. Hinata only nodded her head in response.

"Well you see, yes it was originally yours... But there were some mistakes in it so I changed it..." he simply.

"B-But, it w-was my h-hard work. I w-worked on it. I-I gave the I-idea of an m-massage chair!" Neji stared at her which made her felt small.

"Yes, I'm very aware of that, but remember about what I said about the younger kids?" he asked and began his torturous lecture again. She nodded her head in reply once again.

"Yes, the massage chair was indeed your idea, but it was my idea about the children's stress... I added that into your paper, making it mine. So therefore, your document doesn't belong to you anymore. It belongs to me... You've lost, Hinata." he said darkly and left with her standing by herself in the room. She has lost? No way, not possible. It was her paper! HER PAPER! HER SWEAT AND BLOOD! She even worked on it with Naruto's help! How can he take that away? Why can't she have a bit of glory herself? Why does it have to be a competition every time she enters the meeting? Why?

Hinata walked back to her office and she looked at her list of business trips still needed to be attended... None. Are there any more meetings...? Nope. She was free but was hugely disappointed. She wanted to cry. She wanted to let it go. She wanted to give up. She wanted to stop all this competing. Most of all, she wanted to go see Naruto. She quickly packed her stuff early and ran towards the cafe across the street. She lunged herself in and saw Sakura's surprised reaction as she dropped the big heavy textbook.

Hinata-chan, you're-" without finishing her sentence. The shy girl lunged herself onto the sweet smelling flower girl.

"H-Hinata-chan, are you alright?" she asked. That did it. The dam in her eyes broke and she shook her head as she began to cry in a stifling manner. Noticing this, Sakura quickly pulled her off of her body and demanded to know what the hell happened today. She couldn't say a word; she was crying her eyes out. Sakura quickly made her vanilla coffee and got out some cheesecake that no customer had ever touched because they were never ordered. The cooks gave her a raised eyebrow and she gave them two words: girl talk.

She passed them to Hinata who took a bunch of nearby napkins and wiped her tears and blew her nose. She looked at the coffee and the cheesecake. She took a big bite of the cheesecake and swallowed it down. She took a big gulp o the coffee. Sakura stared at her and then said, "Hinata-chan! Slow down, you're going to choke! It's not like you to stuff your face with food for comfort..." Sakura said worriedly. "Tell me what's wrong..." she said and faced her with a worried face. Hinata put down the fork and her hand trembled. She began crying again.

"N-Neji-s-San, h-he took m-my h-hardw-work, and-and cl-claimed it h-his..." she said through her sobs.

"Neji, took your... Hard work? And claimed it his?" Sakura asked in confirmation. Hinata nodded her head. Sakura knew it would be rude to check the clock while her best friend his crying her eyes out, but she did it anyways.

"Hinata-chan, why don't I stay at your place for tonight? Maybe we could talk then." Sakura said. Hinata nodded her head. "I've got to close the cafe, so just wait a bit." she told her. Hinata sat there waiting for her to close the cafe. She wished Sakura would work faster. Oh, how much she just wants to go home and cuddle up with a pillow and watch sappy dramas on TV. Sakura finished within twenty minutes. She told her to wait again, and headed to the bathroom.

Once she came out, Sakura sent the cooks home and it we time for them to leave as well. She packed up her stuff and they walked out the back door. She walked back to the front to Hinata's car. Sakura decided that she would drive since Hinata was in a wreck herself. Hinata obediently gave her the car keys. Hey, who says that girls who doesn't drive a car CAN'T drive. She was a paramedic once so she had to learn how to drive.

Sakura at on the driver seat and took a deep breath. She hasn't drove anything in a long while. _Alright, foot on the break, move the gear shift, and go..._ after a while of driving, she started to remember how to drive once again. Truthfully, it was fun, but she didn't like the gasoline she could faintly smell once in awhile. Even in the ambulance she could smell it, but Hinata's car was filled with her lavender scent.

The reached Hinata's apartment and she told her to go take a shower. Sakura then went to our kitchen to see what she has to make something delicious. Nothing much, but she can make a mean vanilla hot chocolate which she decided to do. After that, she went to take a shower which didn't take long. Hinata was still in the shower and she could faintly hear the soft stifling sounds. She knocked on her bathroom door and said, "Hinata-chan, don't stay in there too long, you'll catch a cold!" Hinata heard her very clearly and came out of the tub. She dried her body and put on her sleeping clothes. She finally came out and saw Sakura in her sleeping clothes. She had a something in her hand and handed it to her. A vanilla hot chocolate, her favorite drink while not at work. She sipped the deliciously sweet drink and relaxed at her sofa.

Sakura approached her carefully. "Now, tell me what happened. What about Neji?" she said.

"H-He took m-my document... And s-said it w-was his, b-because h-he d-did the finishing t-touches on it." she said and began to cry once again.

"It's okay... It okay... I'm here..." Sakura said and she rubbed her back up and down. Just then they heard a sight banging on the door. Sakura said, "I'll be right back." and Hinata huddled up with a pillow. Sakura knew just who it was and quickly opened the door.

"Why is she crying? Where is she!" Naruto said impatiently and he peeked over her head and sees a girl who is cuddling with a pillow and a bunch of used tissue on the table. He let himself in and quickly took off his leather shoes and kept his trench coat on. He knelt right in front of her and looked up at her.

"Hinata-chan, I'm here... Tell me what's wrong." Sakura came by and told him about Neji. Naruto told her that's not enough information and he took out his pocket watch. "Hinata-chan, we've been through this. Follow the watch with your eyes." and he swung it left and right.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked as she stared at the scene.

"Shh... Hypnosis..." he whispered. Hinata's eyes turned into a flourished gray color once again. "You are now in my command... You will do as I say... You will not stutter for this moment... You will only wake up when I tap you on the shoulder. "

"Hai..." was her response.

"Now, tell me what's wrong... Tell me what happened today..."

"Today, I attended a meeting. The meeting was about stress. Neji use my paper as his presentation. At first I thought it was a mistake but then I saw the paper myself and it was exactly how I wrote it. He only fixed my paper by adding something in it. I asked if it was my paper after the meeting. He admitted it was originally mine, but he said that he added something to the paper, making it his. It was the paper that we both worked so hard on. The one about a massage chair and how it worked. He used my words for his presentation. He took away my chance of glory... He took everything away from me..." Hinata said.

"That bastard!" he said and turned towards Sakura and asked about the family tragedy. She only told him that she can't speak it, only she can tell you when she's ready. Naruto asked her why, and Sakura said it was her scarred memory of her childhood.

"I see... Tell me, what is about the family tragedy, Hinata-chan..." he said and kept swinging the watch. There was no response from her at all. The hypnotized Hinata didn't speak a word at all. Only the words, "it's not my fault..."

"were you blamed for this tragedy?" he questioned.

"It's not my fault... It's not my fault! It's not my fault!"

"Nobody's bla-" Naruto was cut off even before he could finish the rest of his sentence.

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT! IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" and Hinata went hysterical. She began holding her head in her hands and she clenched her teeth and said, "it's not my fault... It hurts... It's not my fault... It hurts..." Tears streamed down her face.

"Naruto, please stop!" Sakura said concerned for Hinata's poor head. Without having to be said Naruto immediately tapped on her shoulder. "It's not my fault... It hurts..." Naruto's heart thumped once. _What? It's not working! _And he tapped her shoulder again. The same reaction happened again. He then panicked a bit and Sakura did as well.

"Hinata-chan, wake up! Hinata? Hinata! Wake up!" Naruto along with Sakura shouted. Naruto began shaking her. "Hinata-chan, wake up! Wake up!" it was no use. "It's not my fault, it hurts..." she replied with sobs and tears everywhere.

"Hinata-chan! You're at home! You're not anywhere near that place! Wake up!" Sakura shouted while holding her best friends hand and she gave a squeeze. In response of breaking free, Hinata squeezed her hand harder and her words stopped.

"How'd you do it, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked as he saw Hinata break free.

"Do what?" Sakura asked as she placed Hinata horizontally on the sofa.

"That, she broke free." he said.

"I don't know... It was logical I guess because she was trapped in her past. You have to tell her that she's in the present and nothing could harm her."

"To tell you the truth, Sakura-chan, this is the first time any of my patients went berserk." he said and caressed Hinata's face and wiped her tears away. "It must be really bad, her past I mean. She must be really scared. Even you won't even tell me about it..." he said.

"Sorry, but it's something that can't be spoken lightly." Sakura said.

"I can see that..." Naruto said and chuckled. "Thanks for calling me over though," he said.

"No problem, I thought it would be best to have you over since this does concern you..." she said.

"Yeah..." he said and got up."Well, good night, Sakura-chan." and he put on his leather shoes and Sakura shut the door behind him. She walked back to the now sleeping peaceful girl. She lifted her head and placed it on her lap so she can sit and watch TV. She watched many late night dramas about cops trying to catch serial killers, and about women and they're struggles. Along the way the girl stirred in her sleep. She woke up when she heard faint sounds of the television and flashes of bright lights going off everyone in awhile. "Hmm... S-Sakura-San? W-What t-time is it?" she asked.

"About two in the morning..." she said.

"W-What happened? I-I c-cant r-remember a-anything... M-My head h-hurts..." she said as she held onto her head. Sakura got up and went to the medical cabinet in her bathroom. She took out the necessary medication for the girl and a glass of water.

Hinata waited for her to return with a glass of water, but instead she saw her with medication. "Swallow this with water. What do you remember?"

"U-Up to the p-point when N-Naruto used h-hypnotism" she said and obediently followed the past doctors orders.

"Mm... I see… have you scheduled an appointment with Naruto yet?"

"W-Well, I o-originally planned to s-see him w-when e-everything was o-over..." she said.

"Oh, well I think you should schedule one soon..." Sakura said really concerned.

"Y-Yes..."

"Let's go sleep now... You have to get up early for tomorrow, don't you?" Hinata nodded her head and both girls headed their separate ways. Hinata slept peacefully that night...

Naruto went home and pondered in thoughts. _What happened to her? What happened to the family? Why's everyone treating her so coldly? Nothing make sense!_ He went to take a shower. After a while, he came out, feeling refreshed and looked out the window to see it snowing again. It was coming down lightly. He looked at his calendar and noticed that they're heading into December soon. He took a deep breath and relaxed. He planned on having a laptop, but never got to go shopping. Maybe this year, he can go and get one for Christmas. He has enough money in his wallet so why not? But that was not the point right now; the point is what happened to Hinata-chan when she was little. He couldn't come up with any ideas and just plopped down on his couch and switched to the news channel. It didn't take him long to drift off to sleep. He woke himself up when he noticed that he was nodding his head. He turned it off and headed to bed.

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><p><strong>So... was Hinata a bit OOC? <strong>

**School registration starts tomorrow, which is Monday for me... School starts on the 18th... yeah.. we start early... end really late like the end of May... which is frustrating...**

**REVIEW PLEASE.  
><strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**A/M: I'm sorry, it took longer than i expected. I was supposed to update yesterday, but thanks to the HORRIBLE thunderstorm, the power went out. I was SO SO SO close to update... but everything's fine... except for our house. One side of it is trashed up while everything is fine. Thank goodness for insurance. **

**Anyway, I'm not sure if you're gonna like this chapter... (even though i worked so hard on it).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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><p>Sakura woke up early than expected. Maybe it was because Hinata's bed was much more comfortable than her own at her apartment. It was eight in the morning. She headed to the bathroom and got ready for the day. She came out with her hair up in a usual bun with pieces of hair falling down on one side of her face. She headed to the kitchen and tried to make a sweet breakfast for the girl. Of course noticing that there wasn't much she could use, she used the best of her abilities and cooked a nice small meal that consisted of cinnamon. She did see some bread, butter, sugar and cinnamon. So she used the available toaster an toasted the bread to a nice golden brown color. She then used butter and applied it to it and added bits of sugar and a lot of cinnamon. she made one for Hinata, and another for herself.<p>

She noticed that Hinata hasn't woken up yet and went to her room. She knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked again much louder. She heard nothing again and went inside. Hinata laid there, breathing hard, sweat pouring down her body, and she can't hear a thing. No matter how much Sakura called her name, she won't wake up and she didn't move. She breathed hard, and sweat just came pouring down her body. She shook her to wake her, nothing but a shiver. She checked her temperature on her forehead and compared it to her own. She concluded she has a fever.

She ran outside and grabbed the phone. She dialed Naruto's phone number and heard the phone ringing on he other end. She heard a slight groan and heard, "hello?"

"Naruto, it's me, Sakura."

"Oh, morning, Sakura... What can I do for you?" he asked still half asleep with the phone resting on his head.

"Listen, I know you're busy, but... Can you... Watch over Hinata today?" she asked in a pleading voice.

"I guess, but what happened?" he said in a dull tone.

"She... Has a fever, and it's increasing at this very moment. I need to run down to the pharmacy and open the cafe. I need you to watch over her while I get the medication." she said and listened to his response on the other end. She only hear the sound of water, and rustling of clothes. "I'm on my way, Sakura-chan." he said an hung up.

'That was fast...' Sakura though and she then placed the phone back to the base. She quickly changed and check back to Hinata, she ran to the bathroom and grabbed a face towel and submerged it in hot water. She placed it on Hinata's forehead and relaxed a bit. The sleeping black hair beauty showed no sign of struggling except for breathing really hard and shivering. She heard the door pounding. She quickly got to the door and there stood Naruto, in a trench coat and a scarf. Surprisingly he wore casual clothing. He wore a bright orange long sleeve shirt and nice looking dark jeans along with tennis shoes, but the trench coat made it look all weird.

"So um... Where's Hinata?" he said trying to look calm as ever.

"in he room, sleeping. Her fever's pretty high, but I can't tell you exactly the temperature. I need to go back to my apartment as well to get the supplies." she said and put on a coat. Naruto slowly walked faced her and said, " well, then, I guess you can go..." he said as he quickly took off his shoes and started doing side steps towards the bedroom, "just watch over her for me okay?" Sakura said and took notice of his nervous side steps.

"Will do!" he said and dashed towards her room and she heard a slam of the door. She smiled to herself and put on her shoes an quickly left. She took Hinata's car keys, and drove her car.

Naruto on the other hand saw Hinata on the bed taking deep breaths and shivering constantly. She unconsciously turned her body away from him. Naruto noticed the cloth on her forehead and quickly took it to the bathroom and submerged it in hot water. He noticed her sweating, he attempted to wipe away the sweat but he remembered something that he read a long time ago in one his college textbooks a long time ago. He stopped his hand in mid air and decided to only submerge the cloth in hot water which he did and placed it back on her head. Her body shook uncontrollably, but there was nothing that he could do except wait for Sakura to come back. He held her icy cold hand in his and held it to his lips.

Sakura went to the pharmacy first to get the most basic medication. She showed the pharmacist a doctor's note that she wrote out herself.

"Oh? You went to see Haruno-sama, the most prestigious doctor?"

"Y-Yes…" Sakura said.

"I wonder what happened to her… I thought she quit working as a doctor, no?"

"She did, but I begged her to look over me…"

"Well, you must be one lucky girl." The pharmacist said and fixed up everything. Sakura handed her the money she had with her. She said her thanks and left the pharmacy and raced down to her apartment in Hinata's car. She noticed that she has another note on her door she had been getting a lot lately. She quickly tore it off and went inside her neat apartment. She placed the note in the drawer of a desk that she wrote her letters and notes on. The drawer was packed with all the notes that she had received in the past. She ignored it completely. With each threat that she had received she became concerned, but nothing has happened to her so there's nothing to be worried about. Besides, this is about Hinata right?

She searched through her closet, tossing clothes behind her until she found it. The medical kit that she had stored away finally came back in action. She grabbed it and ran out the outside, locked the door, and headed to the café. She unlocked the back door and let the freezing cooks inside.

"Gomen, I didn't mean to make you guys wait that long." She said.

"I-It's a-alright, S-Sakura-s-sama…" Satoshi chattered his teeth with a smile. He wore glasses that shined on his face, and had brown hair. Fey on the other hand, had long silver hair that he had to tie up. He was a cold man, but cooking warms up his spirits, but he was a decent man. He didn't utter a word much, but Sakura accepted him for who he was.

"Why don't you guys get everything ready for business? I have to run some errands…" she said and ran back to the car.

"O-Okay!" Satoshi said and waved her goodbye.

Sakura raced down back to Hinata's apartment and stormed through the door, almost breaking it with a brown bag of medication and her medical kit in her arms. She took off her shoes, but kept her coat and scarf on. Naruto was in there holding her hands.

"Sakura! You're back."

"Yup, now step aside, Naruto." She said. Naruto got up and placed Hinata's now warmed up hand back under the sheets. Hinata still shivered constantly, and her breathing was ragged and her sweat never went away. Sakura never thought that she'd open her kit again. She picked out the stethoscope and placed it properly in her ear. She checked her heart beating and breathing. She took her temperature. Then she took her blood pressure, and she was attempted to open her mouth and look inside, but she decided not to. Her breathing was short and quick breathed. Her temperature, of course, sky rocketed with a 105.3, which Naruto peeked over her shoulder and saw. Sakura noted that her blood pressure was a bit high but it was nothing too serious.

"How's is she?" Naruto asked.

"There's a heavy fever, her airways are a bit clogged. She's congested and I think she'll be coughing when she wakes up. And because of the fever, she'll be shivering a lot and I don't know the rest. I need to know more from herself." Sakura explained as she put away the stethoscope.

"I see...I wanted to wipe the sweat away but I thought I should ask you first before I do something." Naruto said.

"Good, you shouldn't wipe her sweat when she's sweating. You have a higher chance of getting something worse. You have to let her cool down before you can wipe it away." Sakura explained.

"Then should I wait for her to stop…?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so… unless you can come up with something…" Sakura noted and smiled. "Well, I have to go and attend the café. I can bring lunch if you want, and there's some food on the table!" Sakura said as she took a piece.

"Sure, I'll call you when I need it." Naruto said. Sakura waved goodbye and left. Naruto watched over Hinata. He was so attempted to wipe away all the sweat that was forming on her body, but he restrained himself. He put his hand on top of her forehead and compared the temperature and sure enough, hers was much higher. He took the cloth that was on her forehead and warmed it back up again. He stared at her sleeping.

_I wonder what's she's dreaming_?' He walked around pacing back and forth thinking of a way to stop her from shaking. In the end, he couldn't come up with anything. He walked around the apartment hoping a random idea might pop up. He wandered into the the other bedroom. On the floor, next to the bed was a big college textbook. He picked up and saw that it was majored in the medical field. 'It must be Sakura-chan's... So then... This room... Is hers? Oh wait, she slept over at Hinata's... That's right' he looked at the textbook and maybe it could help him. He opened to the contents. He skimmed through it until his eyes stopped on the words 'Body Heat'. He immediately turned to those pages and began reading.

After thirty minutes of skim reading the boring passages, he finally understood that body heat from another human, or more insulated items could help. After reading that simple paragraph, he raced through the storage closet and looked for a bunch of pillows and blankets. He found the fluffiest pillow and the most insulated blanket there was and brought it to her room. He set it up around her, and threw the blanket on top of the other blanket. He watched her reaction closely and took notice that she sweated even more and she was taking more short breathes. Her shaking didn't go unnoticed. What did he do wrong? Was it the way he set it up or what? He was clueless. His heartbeat sped up and he quickly sat down cross-legged with his head in his hands. 'If that doesn't work, then maybe it's not body heat, but her hand was icy cold... Sakura-chan said she has a heavy fever...' he looked up and his eyes wandered to the brown bag package that laid there in front of him. _How's this get here?_ and his brain forced a mini flashback on him where Sakura almost threw everything down on the ground before checking on Hinata. He took it into his hands and opened it.

Inside was the medication for Hinata's unknown illness. He read each of the labeled jars carefully and checked the time. It was almost eleven. Time sure is slow, but he decided to wait five minutes before giving her the dosages. He looked around her room, and carefully studied it. The pile of books laid there on the table and there was more stacked on top of each than he had last saw. He studied them, and surely they were all business major and what? A book about the brain? Isn't that supposed to be Sakura's? He took it from the stack and held it in his hands. This looked like something Sakura or he would read... It was a book on psychology. Strange how she has it in her room. What is she going to study for? Oh wait... _It could be for that massage chair project._ He put it back on the stack. He felt like he needed a snack, and remembered Sakura saying something about food on the table and ran towards the kitchen to stall some time.

Five minutes have surely passed and it did. He went back through her kitchen and went through the drawers and found a nice big teaspoon. He raced back to her room. He tried to wake her up, but she just wouldn't. He shook her and she wouldn't open her eyes. He called out to her name and she didn't even react. He tapped her cheek with his hand...nothing. He need some way to give her the dosage, but how? And then it hit him. From all those lewd readings of Icha-Icha series, he came up with the best solution. He decided to give her the medicine orally.

He took the medicine into his mouth and bent down, meeting her lips. He forced her mouth open with his tongue and the medicine flowed through her throat. He began to remove the pillows and blankets that he set up earlier to let her cool. He relaxed as she wasn't shivering as much as before. He decided to watch some T.V to pass some time. _I wouldn't necessarily call it a kiss, Hinata-chan'_ he thought and chuckled to himself.

Sakura, at the cafe sat on her specific chair and looked out the window towards the big Hyuuga Corporation building. She should make a phone call to the company, after all it's her job to do so since the girl is bedridden. She decide to do so. He reached for her not so expensive cell phone and dialed the number. She spoke to one of the secretary and notified her quickly. The secretary didn't believe her so easily a d demanded what doctor she was. With just a breath of her last name, the secretary gasped and apologized quickly. Sakura calmed her down and in the other line she could hear the woman talking about her and already said how she's back in the hospital again. Sakura simply hung up on her, not wanting to be involved with the rumors that she didn't make at all.

"Ne... Ano... Sakura-San, could you teach me how to cook the cake that you cooked for your friend?" Satoshi said as he walked out of the kitchen scratching his head, while smiling a her.

"Satoshi, it's a recipe that I'm not sure I want to put on the menu yet..." Sakura said.

"Oh, it's alright. I just wanted to learn how you bake it."

Sakura chuckled before saying, "Not until I get enough customers." she smiled.

"Alright.." he said with a sigh of defeat." he headed back to the kitchen and joined his friend Fey sitting on the stool bored.

Sakura looked at the cafe. What can she do? It's not possible to keep relying on Gaara for big heavy tips. Sure she can pay the deadline with how much he's given but what happens when he stops coming? What will happen then? Can she handle it on her own? She was already that he was a loyal customer, but what if there was a turn of events? Sh shook her head violently and placed both her hands on her face making a skin on skin slap noise. Just so it happened, Gaara came rushing in. She looked at him with a confused look. _Why is he here so early? It's only twelve..._

"Gaara, can I help you?" she asked.

"No, it's nothing. I just need to borrow your bathroom." he said and raced down to the restrooms.

"O-Oh okay." she said and stared as he ran towards the bathroom. Just so as he disappeared, two men in black ran in front of her restaurant on alert. One of them talked into the phone cord that was put in his ear before they entered her restaurant.

"Miss, have you seen a red haired man come by?" one of hem asked.

"He went that way." she lied as she pointed to a random direction.

"Alright, thanks." they left and Gaara came out peering out checking as if someone was looking for him.

"Don't worry, I gave them the wrong directions." she said as she sipped her hot tea that she made early in the morning. He stepped out from hiding.

"Arigato, Sakura-San." he said expressionless.

"Why were they chasing you?" she asked.

"Business matters." he said. Sakura simply thought that he was probably running away from his duty and wanted to have some fun and was forced to be tracked down.

"Oh... Well be careful," she smiled at him. He gave her a simple nod. He walked towards the door, but stopped. Sakura who was staring at the the T.V broadcasting the forecast. Gaara walked towards her and tapped her on the shoulder. Sakura looked away from the T.V and was surprised to see a red headed man in front of her.

"Sakura-San, do you have any other meat dishes?"

"I don't know actually. I'll whip something up if you like." she offered.

"Please do, I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it for this afternoon."

"Alright," she said and headed to the kitchen. She checked the back freezers looking a what she can make. Nothing much, but she decided to get to work.

Gaara looked around the restaurant. It was beautiful and elegant. Peace and quiet. Warm and friendly. It took in the air of the restaurant. The place was filled with the smell of cream, sugar, and spice with a hint of her scent. The scent of Cherry blossoms. He waited quietly for her to finish cooking. He was excited to see what she could come up. He listened to the forecast as the weather man predicted that there might be another ice storm in a few days. Wait, just last year, that there was a ice storm and it was the cause of the downfall of this cafe that he loved so much. No, it's just a prediction.

Sakura popped out with take out boxes in plastic bags that has the trademark signature. She handed it to him.

"Don't I have to pay?" he asked.

Sakura chuckled. "Your order was never on the menu, so it's free." she smiled.

Gaara chuckled back her. "No wonder you're not making any money..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura asked with hands in her hips.

"Nothing really, just that..." he leaned towards her ear. " you're giving me free food way too often. So I insist that I pay for it."

"Sorry, but it's not on the menu, so I can't determine he price correctly." she said crossing her arms.

"Don't worry, my payment will cover the cost of it, no matter how big the price is even if you can't determine it."

Sakura stared at the man before agreeing to it. She walked behind the counter, and opened the cash register.

Gaara fished for his wallet and handed her a folded dollar bill.

"Keep the change." and he walked out with his food. Sakura looked at the folded dollar bill. She began to unfold it and... It was a hundred dollar bill. 'Well it does cover the cost...' she thought happily to herself. She decided to keep the hundred dollar bill for the restaurant like always. She waited for the news report to be over so that she can watch her favorite drama that was airing. She smiled to herself while watching.

Naruto checked back on Hinata. It looked like the medicine was taking effect. She hasn't been shaking in awhile, and her sweating is almost gone. He tried to wake her up again.

"Hinata-chan? Hinata-chan...?" he called out to her. The girl waking from her long slumber, opened her eyes to see a bright orange man standing over her bed. She knows this man.

"N-Naruto-k-kun..." she said in whispers.

"Shh... Don't talk... You have a fever, Sakura-chan looked over you before she went to work. We don't know what else is going on to your body, so just rest for now... Sakura will be back in a bit. Why don't you take a shower?" he suggested. Hinata nodded her head.

"Can you stand?" he asked. She doesn't know so she sat up. Slightly dizzy but fine. She got out of bed, and she was extremely dizzy. She wobbled a bit before a pair of large hands caught her fall.

"It looks like you can't." he said.

"I-I c-can." she said quickly and tried standing again. Ouch, that hurt. Using her voice was like a tear in the voice box. She ignored it. She resisted the urge to fall and she didn't. She stood there perfectly fine.

"Alright, but you're only to take a quick shower, and nothing else." Naruto lectured.

"Mm." she said and gathered her stuff. She headed to the bathroom while Naruto went to watch his show. Hinata sat down on the ground when she locked the door. That was hard. Fighting the dizziness, and standing up. She stripped down and tossed her sweaty sleeping clothes into the hamper and she stepped into the tub. She turned to the desired temperature. The hit water hitting her was really hot. Of course, because of the fever, everything is hot. She shivered in the down pouring water and began lathering the soap onto her pale peachy skin. She began to see doubles. She wasn't quite interpreting things well. She finished showering and wrapped her body in a towel. Just as she stepped out of the tub, a wave of nausea washed over her. Her vision went black and she fell onto the carpeted floor with a thud.

Naruto who heard the loud thud, got up immediately and ran to the bathroom. He began pounding on the door shouting, "Hinata! Hinata! Are you okay? Say something!" and it just so happened Sakura came back with food in take out boxes. She walked in to hear Naruto pounding on the bathroom door.

"Naruto, what's going on?" she asked as she hung her coat up.

"Hinata's in there. I asked her to take a shower if she can, but I think I heard her fall!"

"What? She doesn't have keys for the bathrooms..." Sakura said worriedly. At this point, Naruto began breaking down the door by barging against it.

After a few attempts, the door finally breaks free and there lies Hinata on the floor sprawled out. Thankfully she had a towel on. Naruto ran up to her and supported her head. Sakura came by his side.

"Hinata! Hinata-chan!" he shouted. It's no use.

"Let's get her out of here." she said and Naruto carried her out bridal style and put her on the bed. Sakura gathered her things and shooed Naruto out. He understood what that meant so he waited patiently outside her room. Sakura began dressing Hinata despite her being unconscious. It didn't take long, but she was finished. She called Naruto back in and he did.

It didn't take long but Hinata slowly opened her eyes when she heard murmurs. There she saw Sakura's face and then Naruto's above her. She wanted to know what happened, but her voice won't come out. She could feel someone holding her hand tightly. Was it Sakura? She wasn't sure.

"Hinata, you had us worried. You fainted in the bathroom..." Sakura began.

"You had me worried. You were in there and the bathroom door was locked." Naruto said.

"But thanks to Naruto, he broke the door down..." she said with a hint of anger.

"well, at least she's fine, Sakura-chan." Naruto said. The person holding her hand held it tighter.

"G-Gomen, I-I made y-you w-worry a-about m-me." she said weakly.

"Silly girl, that's what we're here for." Naruto said and smiled wholeheartedly. Sakura looked at her.

"Hinata-chan, can you sit up for me?" she asked. Hinata tried to. She felt extremely weak now and her muscles in her arm were failing, but she managed to sit up. Sakura wore her stethoscope and began checking her breathing. It's really clogged up. Hinata now knows who's hand it was now. It was Naruto's. His hand, now that you think of it, it's a bit rough, but smooth at the same time.

"Hinata, have you been coughing?" she asked

"N-No..."

"I'm not surprised..."

"What's going on, Sakura-chan?"

"She has a a lot of mucus build up..." Sakura said.

"How do we get rid of it?"

"We can't, but she can. All she has to do is cough, but don't force yourself. It will come naturally." Sakura said. "Now aside from the fever, and the clogged breathing, what else is wrong?"

"S-Stuffy nose, a h-headache, and m-my muscles a-are r-really t-tired. M-my throat h-hurts, and I'm a-achy a-all over. I-I feel v-very n-nauseous. I f-feel l-like I n-need to v-vomit..." she said.

Sakura nodded her head. "Do you want to eat?" Listening to that, Naruto gave her a funny look.

"That was off topic..."

"Yeah, I know. Well, Hinata-chan?"

"N-No, I d-don't f-feel like it." she stated.

"Are you hungry?"

"N-Not o-one bit..."

"Alright, you have the flu..." Sakura stated and Naruto's tight grip on Hinata's hand released. He was shocked. He remembered he gave her the medication... orally. He better watch out for himself as well. He took a gulp.

"You better go eat, or else you will vomit," Sakura said.

"Mm..." Sakura got up and put away her stethoscope and put away her medical kit. She put on her coat and shouted, "I'm going back to work! I'll bring dinner!" and with the sound of the door slamming, Naruto and her were all alone once again.

Naruto got up and left her hand alone. "Well you heard what the doctor said. Wait here," he said and went to the kitchen where Sakura had left the food. He opened I and was surprised that it was filled with rice, teriyaki chicken, broccoli, and steamed egg. He grabbed a bowl and began picking some food up with the chopsticks. He then raced back to the bedroom where Hinata was waiting. He began to feed her little by little and Hinata smiled kindly back at him. He picked up bits chicken for her to eat, which she happily swallowed. She then frowned, " What's wrong?" he asked.

"Gomen, y-you have to t-take c-care of m-me..."

"No, it's alright. I chose to come here." he said.

"H-How'd you f-find out t-that I w-was sick?"

"Sakura phoned for me early in the morning. She asked me if I can look after you today. I agreed and eat your food, doctors orders." he said. Hinata smiled back at him before agreeing with him. She took a bite and chewed slowly. It's filled with eggs and healthy green broccoli. She swallowed and asked, "H-Have you e-eaten y-yet?"

"Nope." and fed her a scoop of rice.

She swallowed before saying, "A-Are you g-going t-to e-eat later?"

"Yup." he said and fed her the last spoonful of rice. "Like now..." and he got up and put away the bowl and chopsticks in the sink. He walked back to the her room and told her, "You should rest now..." he said and she slid back down to her warm bed. She closed her eyes, and she could feel him touching her forehead measuring the temperature. Then she felt something soft and a bit wet. She couldn't decipher it right now, she's too tired and she fell into deep slumber once again.

Naruto smiled at the sleeping black haired beauty before he left to go eat his share of lunch. It was deliciously healthy and sweet. The flavor is just right and the taste blossomed in his mouth. He watch his shows while eating his food quietly. It was fairly interesting. The show talked about how a man found his life back once he met a woman.

He finished eating and threw away the box and put the chopsticks in the sink. He then went back to finish watching the man. The show didn't last long as it was over. His cell phone rang and he answered.

"Hello?"

"It's me..." said a rough low voice.

"Oh, hey Gaara, what's up? Need to do some talking?"

There was no answer.

"Well, I'm at at a friends house right now. I can't leave."

There was a growl before Naruto heard, "Fine, where are you at? I'll come to you."

Naruto gave him the address to Hinata's apartment. He hung up his phone and waited twenty minutes before he heard a knocking on the door. He got up and just to be safe, he looked in the peephole and sure enough, it was Gaara. He opened the door for him and Gaara walked in.

"What are you doing here?" Gaara asked him.

"I had to take care of a friend." he replied as he shut the door.

"Hn."

"Well, what's up, Gaara?"

"Hn..." was all that he answered.

"Is it... Because of the company?" Naruto asked.

There was no answer from him. Bingo.

"What is it this time, or is it the same thing?" he asked.

"Same thing..." he said.

"Oh... The marriage thing..." he said. He wouldn't say it was arranged marriage. Although it was when he was born, but since his father died, he called off the marriage. The other party threatened to cut off business with their company and sent assassins to force him down to sign the papers.

"They used guns this time..." he said.

"Oi! That's not right then. You shouldn't have to marry someone you don't like!" Naruto said.

"That's what I'm here to talk to you about." He said a bit irritated.

"Hai, Hai, Gomen.."

"Hn. Like I said, they used guns and disrupted business in the process which I have to sign more papers stating it's my fault." he said.

"Oh, well you can always challenge his company for a duel."

"What are you saying?"

"Go challenge him to a duel. If you win, they can't ever lay a finger on you. If they win... well, they get what they want." Naruto said simply.

"It's a risk."

"It's a risk, yes..."

"It's a risk I'm gonna take." he said sternly. It was quiet for a moment before his stomach growled. Naruto laughed his head off at that. Gaara gave a glare at him. he looked at his lunch and opened the sack. Naruto immediately recognized where it was from. Gaara opened the box and was surprised. Naruto peered over his shoulders and smiled.

"Hey, she gave you pork chops!"

"And fried eggs, lettuce, rice, and a small amount of salmon." he stated nodding his head. He picked up the wooden chopsticks that Sakura had placed inside and began eating the chops first tasting it.

"Well, how is it?" Naruto asked.

"...as expected. It's... Delicious." he said and began taking bigger bites. Naruto laughed at him.

"As expected of Sakura-chan." Naruto said.

"Who are you taking care of?"

"A friend."

"Who?" he asked sternly.

"Well, it's the friend of Sakura-chan,"

"You mean, the Hyuuga?"

"Yup, anyway, do you know anything about the Hyuuga's past?"

"...Yes, but it's a bit dark." he stated. Naruto wondered about it.

"Tell me..." he said seriously. Gaara put down his chopsticks as he was finished eating. He sat back and relaxed. He crossed his arms and began:

_The Hyuuga's was split up from the main branch house and just the branch house. A long time ago, there were twins that were born. Of course, the first one to be born was in the main branch and second was in the branch house. They were together for most of their childhood until the elders of their family began taking action and separated them two. They were placed in separate places. When they grew up, the oldest from the main branch took control of the younger twin. Being the heir, the older twin inherited the franchise very quickly. The younger twin obeyed obediently. He was the nicest one. He didn't object to what his brother said and only spoke his mind when he needs to._

_They both got married. The younger one produced a child earlier than the older one only a year apart thus we have Neji and Hinata. Hinata belonged in the main branch and Neji belonged in the lower branch. Recognizing Neji as a genius at young age, his father tried talking to her father about placing him the main branch. Her father decline but his father pleaded and resulted in a hundred whip lashing. It was the punishment that the Hyuuga's always had. The younger one took his punishment. As a young child, Neji couldn't believe his eyes. All the blood and markings on his back, it scared his son. After that incident they never spoke of it again._

_A few months later, at night perpetrators entered there him and kidnapped the young Hyuuga girl in her sleep. She wasn't quite well aware of what they were doing since she was little. They took her somewhere dark and blindfolded her and tied her to a chair. The perps demanded money before they can have her back. Of course, they had the money, but they can't risk it. So the main branch had called up the police to help as well. Most of the money were just paper to deceive them. The older twin went in to get his daughter like how a father should by himself. The police force on the other hand had no idea what was going to happen. The twin went in and killed the perpetrators for touching his daughter. Once the girl was saved the police went in saw the dead bodies. He said that it was they who attacked him and he defended himself from them with a knife nearby. Of course, it sounded realistic, but then, why wasn't he hurt at all? The Hyuuga's being skilled in the martial arts world, can take down the enemy quickly and lethally, but his statement was confirmed false as there was a surveillance camera installed. The police had confirmed that he had lied and was charged with first degree murder. How he killed them was very disturbing and was sentenced to death._

_Funny thing is, it was Neji's father that was killed. Neji's father apparently switched placed with Hinata's father. For the sake of the company, Neji's father sacrificed himself but he secretly told his brother that he wants his son to be in the main house which never happened. When Neji noticed that his father was gone, it was too late, his father had already died and thus another scar. Hinata, of course came back alive and fine except she didn't want anyone touching her. When her father tried to get near her she stuttered immensely and always ran away. She always kept her distance around people. Then there was this one night. She had a fever so high it sky rocketed. I don't remember what it was, but it was serious. She wouldn't move away from her bed and she would vomit constantly. It took her a week to get over it and when it did, she couldn't remember much about the past. Her stuttering stayed. It was strange. She couldn't even remember she was kidnapped or what happened after that._

_Years after that, when they went to school, Hinata was always bullied for her shyness and her studies dropped immensely. They then had Hanabi, her sister. Their father sees more potential in her younger sister than her so he placed for abandonment. They abandon her and left her in one of their family's best friends care, Kurenai Yuhi. It was interesting how Neji only pitied her and despised her for a long time. Wherever she went, he followed closely and pitied her. To this day, they have never shared any kindness towards each other._

Gaara finished and opened his dark tired eyes to see Naruto staring dumbfounded at him.

"What?" he asked.

"How come you know so much about their history?"

"It's best to know your business partners." Gaara said simply.

"There something I think is missing…"

"I told you everything. There shouldn't be anything missing." He said sternly.

"Well, I feel like its missing. Like how you said that she was stuttering and no one can touch her, I thought it was strange. Was it trauma?"

Gaara took a moment to think before he said, "In a way, yes."

"Really… I'd have to look further into details…" Naruto said rubbing his chin in thinking mode.

Gaara looked at his empty lunch box and asked, "Where's the trash can?"

"Here, I'll do it." Naruto got up and took care of everything very quickly. He came back and sat down and asked, "Gaara, how come Hinata-chan, doesn't know you?"

"When we have meetings, it's only with the higher ups like her father, Neji, and Hanabi. I've never seen her come in to any of the meetings at all, and nor have she seen me, but I have seen her on the family business photo." He said.

"Oh… Wow…" Naruto said. They chatted away for about two hours before Gaara got up and said his goodbyes. Naruto got up and checked on Hinata. She was sleeping peacefully. He gently shook her and called out her name. She opened her eyes and flash of nausea washed over her again. She couldn't breathe very well. She looked at Naruto who woke her up.

"How are you feeling?"

"N-Not v-very good."

"Are you okay?"

"N-No…" and she made a face. She quickly shot out of bed and ran to the bathroom slamming the door. Naruto came knocking on the door.

"Hinata-chan? Are you alright?" He couldn't hear anything, but the sounds of vomit. He walked in on her with her head in the toilet bowl. She finished hurling the last of the gunk and grabbed some toilet paper and wiped her lips.

"G-Gomen, N-Naruto-kun, you h-had to s-see this." She said and threw the paper into the toilet and flushed the toilet.

"Nah, It's okay. That's why I'm here." He said and he picked her up bridal style and carried her back to the bedroom bridal style. She felt safe and comfortable in his arms until he set her down on the bed. He pulled the covers for her.

"How are you feeling now?"  
>"S-Still nauseous, b-but I'll b-be fine." She reassured him.<p>

"Alright, but I think I'll be staying here tonight."

"W-Why?" she asked in whispers.

"I don't think you'll be fine after a day of rest." He stated.

"H-How do- " She was cut off with a sudden coughing fit. Naruto flinched a bit before he sat down beside her and rubbed her back up and down and patting it. She stopped coughing and relaxed her body a bit.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes." She stated and Naruto placed his hand on her head. It's still the same hot temperature. No difference at all. She wanted to know her temperature, but Naruto said not to worry about it now and to rest. She scooted back down to lie down on the bed and to sleep some more, but before that Naruto told her, "Sleep tight."

She couldn't help but smile and wonder why he is here in the first place. It's not just his wish to come but it's something much more. She can feel it… or she's being really unrealistic since she has the flu. She fell asleep soundly once again. She felt extremely happy that he was right beside her. Naruto looked at the clock in her room, and it read four thirty. Time is surely going by slowly, but he was glad that he got to spend time with her. He was glad that Sakura was right about her coughing. It did come naturally. He hoped that Hinata would get better soon. She still needs to finish her counseling with him and he needs to hunt down the reason why she's stuttering so much and her extreme shyness. He was sure that he will find the root of it. He was sure of it and he held her hand close to his.

He woke up abruptly and looked at the clock that read seven thirty. Did I fall asleep for three hours? It seems so. He looked at his hand holding hers. He chuckled and slid her hand under the covers, and then he noticed something. She sweating immensely more and more, and her shivers are back and her breathing are quick breathes. Did the medicine wear off? He took looked back her table where he had left the medication. He took it in his hand and read the label: Must take every five hours. Last five hours was… He looked at the clock. It was at four. It ended at four. He quickly tried to wake her up.

"Hinata! Hinata-chan! Wake up!" he said quickly and began tapping on her cheek letting the sweat on her forehead drip down. She squirmed in his hands before opening her eyes.

"N-Naruto-k-kun, w-what is it?" she asked weakly.

"How are you feeling? Are you alright?" he asked really quickly. She tried to get up but let out a shriek of pain and fell back down onto the bed.

"Hinata!" he shouted. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes, its j-just that m-my c-chest hurts." She said as her sweat dripped down her face and she took a deep breath but a sharp pain entered and she winced.

"Are you okay?" he quickly asked.

"Y-Yeah. I'm f-fine." She said. Naruto quickly helped her sit up. She quickly grabbed onto the bed sheets. Apparently she was still feeling dizzy as ever. Naruto quickly poured the medicine on to the spoon and suddenly a flash zoomed past him and into the bathroom. He quickly pours the medicine back into the bottle and ran into the bathroom.

"Hinata-chan, are you alright?" he said as she slammed the door open. He saw her hurling in response. He patted her back comforting her as she hurled into the toilet bowl. He could see that she hurled back today's lunch. He looked away and continued to pat her back while she vomits vigorously. After she was done, she was exhausted. She felt weak.

"Hinata-chan, Are you alright?" Naruto asked slowly and sternly. Hinata admitted defeat. She was not fine and shook her head slowly.

"I'm going to call Sakura." He told her.

"No!" she said really quickly. No hesitation. He looked at her. "I-I'll b-be fine, I-I p-promise." She said.

Naruto looked at her for a moment before he replied, "Alright." He carried her back to her room once again and sat her down on her bed. He quickly poured the medicine back on to the spoon. He signaled her to open her mouth, which she did and he shoved the spoonful of medicine in her mouth. She quickly gulped down the distaste full liquid substance. Naruto wiped the spoon with a nearby napkin and set it down. He walked up to her and said, "Hinata-chan, I think it's getting worse…" he said.

"N-No, it's n-not." She countered which she has never done before and Naruto took notice of it. He played along.

"I see, maybe you're right." He said and picked her up again and carried her to her bedroom. He set her down again and told her to rest. He felt his foot step on something half wet and soft. He picked it up and saw it. It was the cloth that was set on her head. He threw it in the sink in the bathroom and left it alone. He ran to the phone and dialed Sakura's number. It connected through and heard the rings.

"Hello?"

"Sakura! You have to come quick! Hinata's acting all weird!"

"Naruto? What do you mean weird?"

"Like not herself. When I suggested calling you, she yelled, 'No!' which she never done that before."

"I'll close the cafe early. I'll be there in fifteen minutes." she said and hung up. Naruto looked at the clock that read, seven forty five. 'She'll be here at eight...'

Fifteen long dreadful minutes later... He heard the door shot open and he jumped from his spot. "I'm here!" she shouted. She hung her coat on the coat rack and raced towards the bedroom where the ill sicken girl laid.

She grabbed her stethoscope out and placed it properly in her ear. Naruto walked in and stood beside her. She commanded him to lift the girl upright which he obediently did. She could see the sweat on her body and could hear the shortness of her breath. She placed the cold metal part of her stethoscope under her shirt on her blazing hot skin.

_Her heart rate is high..._ Her breathing is just like how she sounded... Short and quick almost like gasping for air. She then checked her blood pressure. _It dropped… a lot…_

"Naruto, did anything else happen?"

Naruto scratched his head and replied, "Yes, she started coughing like you said she would. It did come out naturally. I think she hurt herself from coughing or something… she was in pain for a moment when she tried to get up. Did I mention she vomited?" Naruto said as he put the girl back down.

"I-It's c-cold…" the soft voice said clearly. Sakura quickly touched her forehead, then her arm, her stomach, and her feet. She her skin was roaring hot and she say she's cold…

"I also gave her medicine that you dropped on the floor…" Naruto said. "I did everything the label said!" he said quickly not wanting to be blamed.

Sakura picked it up and examined it. _Yes, I did get this kind, but she shouldn't be shivering…_ "What time did you give it to her?" she asked sharply.

"At seven thirty… why?"

"It should be working… but she's shaking…" Sakura said and put the medication down.

Hinata, who was lying on the bed shaking, picked up the sheets and wrapped herself around it.

"Hinata! How are you feeling?" Sakura quickly asked when she saw her move.

"O-Okay…" Hinata said with closed eyes.

"Do you… feel hungry or anything?"

"N-No, M-My h-headache i-is g-getting worse… I-It's c-cold…" she said.

"Naruto… I have bad news…"

"What is it?"

"The flu evolved…"

* * *

><p><strong>I must be a horrible author, because there's no action... <strong>

**School has already started for me... I don't know about you guys. **

**I hope this chapter is good. I worked hard on it.**

**In the early future, ONEGAI, tell me when my characters are starting to be OOC! **

**I might have to watch Naruto again for my other stories, since i stopped watching it two years ago because they stopped airing it for some reasons, and when they did, that certain channel was blocked on my DIRECT TV. -_-**

**Well, Please REVIEW!  
><strong>


	6. Chapter 6

"Nani (what)?"

"..."

"What is it?"

"She has..."

"What is it, Sakura? Spit it out!"

"Pneumonia! She has pneumonia!"

Bu-bump

His heart skipped a beat.

"Pneumonia... I-It's not that bad..." he said trying to reassure himself and Sakura.

"Don't lie to yourself, Naruto, you know how bad it is!" she said.

"Yeah..." he said in defeat.

Sakura touched Hinata's soft face with her hand. Her face was pale white and the colors of her lips were colorless gray! She took her hand back and checked her temperature. They could hear her coughs. Naruto was drowned in thoughts that he didn't know what Sakura was doing until she dropped the electronic thermometer onto the soft carpet with a light thud.

She quickly picked it up, turned it off, and set it aside. She looked at the girl with a million things running through her mind. Asking herself a million questions, she was shaken by Naruto.

"Sakura!"

"What?" she said surprised.

"I asked you, did you eat yet, and you spaced out."

"Oh, Gomen. Yeah, I ate."

"You sure?"

"Yes..."

"Alright..." he said and looked at Hinata on the bed, sweating, and gasping for air as she huddled up in a tiny ball.

Naruto nudged her gently. She opened her eyes that were shut so tight and looked at him.

"I-Is there s-something w-wrong? She asked while shaking.

"Are you... hot at all?" he asked feeling her forehead with his hand.

"N-No, I'm cold... C-Can't y-you s-see?" she said and closed her eyes once again and coughed some more. They could hear the cough getting worse and worse.

He sighed and looked at Sakura, who stared at the situation.

"I'll be staying here to take care of her," he said to her.

"What? Why?" she asked out of disbelief.

"Look, I know you can probably handle the situation better than I can, but you have to keep the restaurant going, so you need your sleep. Tomorrow, I do have to work, but I can always call my patients to come here." he said sternly.

Sakura took a moment to think. "I don't know... She's not in a very good condition and you could get it too." she said shaking her head.

"Please, Sakura!" he said as he grabbed onto her shoulders and forced her to look into his eyes.

She starred at him and in his eyes, she could see the willingness and urge to take care of Hinata was beyond just a simple 'no'.

"Alright, but you need your clothes and everything." she said.

"Don't worry, I planned it all out since this afternoon." he said as he walked outside and threw on his coat. Sakura remained inside and decided to look after Hinata. She blotted the sweat with a tissue paper. Her hair was sticking to her face and she could faintly hear the sounds of her breathing. Her shaking didn't get any better, so she draped another piece of blanket over her. Her coughing was still present.

She decided to pull up her college textbooks and began to re-read it, once again. It didn't take her long to finish reading five chapters filled with about a hundred pages in between. She was a natural at reading and could speed read while understanding what it means all at the same time. She was absorbed into it and didn't know it until Naruto came knocking on the door.

She put away the book and quickly ran to the door to let the blonde man in.

"Arigato, Sakura." he said.

Apparently he packed everything he needed in a backpack. He walked in and slipped out of his shoes. He threw his backpack on the couch and hung up his coat.

"How's Hinata now?" he asked.

"Same..." she said with a pained expression.

"I see..." he said and walked into Hinata's room and noticed that the there was a night light plugged in nearby the outlet by her desk. It was solar powered apparently. He walked inside without having to turn on the lights and touched the girl's cold face. 'How can she sleep while shaking like this?' he wondered to himself. The cold sweat that came from her, were on his fingers. He reached for the tissue box and blotted her. He spent a good five minutes cleaning her up before he went outside.

Sakura who was once again another in her textbook again, never noticed Naruto calling her until he touched her shoulder.

"Sakura!"

"What?" she said and looked up from her big book.

He sighed and then said, "You spaced out again."

"Sorry, what did you need?" she asked with an apologetic look.

"Nothing, but I do think you need a shower," he said and pointed to the clock, and to her clothes. She noticed that Naruto was already in his pajamas that consisted of a night hat that looked like some kind of dog and his outfit with the designs of a black back ground and orange swirls everywhere. Come to think of it, was he wearing it already when he walked in? She was too absorbed in the book to concentrate on clothing. She looked at the clock and it read a mighty eleven o' clock. How time flies. She was really caught off guard from that. She quickly left her book alone on the couch and went to gather her stuff for a shower.

Naruto sighed at his pink haired friend. He picked up her textbook. Being curious on what she was reading about he opened the book to a random page and randomly began to read.

Sakura took her time in the showers. She washed her soft colored pink hair with shampoo and conditioner. She finished up in thirty minutes and came out to meet with Naruto reading her book.

"Naruto?"

Naruto with a book held all the way to his face at eye level, slowly set the book down to reveal a flustered face.

With a towel draped over her neck, she dried her hair and said, "What are you doing?"

"Reading your book. Didn't know it would get graphical." he said while looking away.

"And why are you reading my college textbooks?"

"I thought there might be something that could help Hinata..." he said.

"Actually, I already came up with a way, but I'm not sure I want to try it out..." Sakura said without meeting his eyes.

"Well let's go try it out!"

"No!"

"Why!"

"It's a bit dangerous!"

"What are you going to do to her?" he questioned.

"C-Chinese cupping..." she said.

"What's that?"

"I... can't really explain it..." Sakura said.

"Well, let's try it anyway!" he said.

"What! No, it's too dangerous!"

"You won't know, unless you try..." Naruto pointed out.

"... true..." she said and stared at the ground.

"Come on, let's try it out!" Naruto whined.

"Fine, fine!" she said giving up to Naruto's persistency.

She grabbed a small cup with a nice bowl shaped bottom. She fished out two quarters and got tissue paper and brought a lighter. They then headed to Hinata's room where she sweated, and her breathes were of pants. Naruto turned on the lights, but the Hyuuga girl immediately went under covers.

"Turn off the lights!" Sakura said. Naruto obeyed her commands.

She spoke gently to the girl buried under the covers. Hinata peaked up from her ever dark covers to discover that the lights are turned off and there were two figures. One is definitely Sakura. _The other one... Naruto?_

"S-Sakura, shouldn't y-you b-be sleeping?"

"I will, after this." she began. "Hinata, I want to try something out..."

"W-What is it?"

"C-Chinese cupping. It's been passed down by my family, but this is my first time trying it out..."

"No!" and buried herself back in her covers. Sakura was slightly taken back, but she knew the reason for this outcome.

"Why is she acting like this?" Naruto finally said.

"Mood swings... It happens a lot when you're sick..."

"I see..." Naruto said. "Maybe I could help you with this situation."

"Naruto-"

"I'm not taking no for an answer. I really think this could work."

"How would you know! You don't even have the slightest clue on what's it about, or how it works."

"Yeah, even if I don't know how it works, let me at least believe that it works..."

Sakura was taken back once again by a response. _Believe… _"Alright..."

Naruto approached the girl who coughed out.

"Hinata-chan..." he began out. "It's me, Naruto."

The girl peaked out the covers with a huge desire to breathe.

"I promise you, Sakura can make you feel much better." he said while buttering her up.

"N-No, I don't w-want to..." she wheezed out and coughed coherently. Naruto touched her flushed red face (from the fever).

"Do you know how bad your fever is?"

"N-No..." she said.

"Well, it's pretty high, and you're in danger. Do you understand? You're in danger..." he said. He had both his hands on her hot and sweaty face. "Please, let Sakura help you... and look, you're coughing so much." he said almost shaking her.

Hinata gave a nod in the palms of his hands.

Sakura got right to work.

"Hinata, I need you to lie on your stomach." and she did as she was told. Sakura lifted up the back of her shirt and unclasped her bra. Sakura then blotted the sweat on her back.

She placed the quarter in the center of the tissue and lifted the corners of the tissue paper and twisted it. It was then that she placed it on Hinata's back. She could see in the dark that her back was heaving up and down.

"Hinata, can you hold your breath?"

"I-I'll try, S-Sakura-san." she said and took a big gulp of air and her back steadied like a plane.

Sakura perfected the place of the twisted tissue filled with quarters. With a lighter she clicked it on.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" Naruto said, noticing the flame.

"Shh... I need to concentrate." and he shut up. He watched it all unfold before him.

Sakura placed the flame on the tips of the tissue paper and the tissue paper flourished with fire. Naruto was tempted to run to the bathroom to poor water on it, but he was glad he didn't. Sakura waited for the right moment for the flame to balance out and forcefully slammed the small cup on top of it letting the flame suck in everything but freeze in place and forced Hinata to let go the breath she held. Sakura let go of the cup and watched as Hinata's breathes were actual breathes instead if pants and her coughing had subsided. Sakura let out a gulf of air, releasing the tension build up in her body.

Naruto looked in amusement as the fire burned in place not moving any further. He could hear the silence for the first time that Hinata emitted. She didn't cough and she didn't wheeze out. He understands now, why Sakura couldn't possibly explain it – it was too awesome to be put into words.

He watched Sakura pull the covers back on while his white eyed beauty lay on her stomach. He sat on the bed and listened to the girl's conversation.

"A-Arigato, Sakura-san. I-It feel s-so relaxing..." she said and turned her head the other direction to ease her neck.

"No problem, Hinata-chan... It's no problem..."

There was no response from Hinata other than her soft breathings. Sakura caressed her friend's cheek gently and placed a piece hair back in place. She decided to let it burn in place for five good minutes. She and Naruto talked quietly in the dark with the glow of the night light. Naruto described the patients that he's taken care of and what "types" he can distinguish apart. Sakura told him how happy she was before the ice storm and still am.

After five minutes, it was time to remove the cup from the skin and place on another place. Sakura had asked Naruto to get the flash light because she didn't want to turn on the lights to freak her best friend out. Naruto handed her the flash light and she turned it on. To her surprise, her prediction came true, the flame manage to pick up the impurities in her body very well for the air inside the cup was a dark menacing purple color. She was happy for the amazing discovery on her first try with the cups. She slowly slip her nail under the rim of the cup and with a sucking sound, the air rushed inside the cup and blew out the flame. Hinata felt this, and slowly woke up.

"W-What are y-you doing n-now?"

"We're going to do the same thing in a different part of your back." she said.

"O-Okay..." Hinata said and turned her head the other direction earning the crack of her neck bones.

Sakura repeated the process over, and it earned her confidence to do this more in the future. Naruto watched again at the amazing show. He can't help but think this is some sort of ritual and laughed at his own thought. This time Sakura didn't have to slam it down so hard, but hard enough for the skin to sucked in by the flame.

They continued to talk another five minutes before finishing up the whole process. As they talked, they weren't aware of the time flying. Sakura felt as if her and Naruto are getting closer and closer almost like a brother and sister.

She checked the fumes in the cups with the flashlight. It was again a menacing purple color and slipped her nail in to remove the cup. Once the flame was put out, she blew the ashes away from the white beauty's back. She used her flashlight and she was right about this too. The chinese cupping caused bruising. It left Hinata's back with two big purple circles. Naruto saw this was concerned. She reassured him by explaining that bruising may happen because her parents did this to her whenever something in her body did not go right. It always left purple circles on her but it eventually went away. Naruto nodded his head indicating that he understands. Sakura clasped back Hinata's bra and Hinata felt that her bra was back in place and she drowsily turned to sleep on her back again.

"Sakura..."

"Nani?"

"I know this is a bit late but that was totally awesome!" he said in a loud whisper.

"I know!" Sakura said agreeing with him. "Arigato, Naruto! Without you, I don't think Hinata will get any better than this!"

"It's no problem!" Naruto said with a chuckle.

They left her room with a soft click of the closing door.

"Sakura, you should sleep. You have to get up to open the cafe..." Naruto said.

"I should..." she said noticing the time of midnight.

"I'm going to sleep..." he said and headed to the bathroom where he had put away his dental care. Sakura went for the bathroom that had her stuff. Surprisingly she finished up quicker than Naruto, who went to the bathroom first.

He came out and said, "Good night, Sakura-chan." and walked towards the Hinata's room.

"Matte..." and Naruto faced her.

"Just where are you going?"

"To her room, to sleep?" he said rhetorically.

"Nuh uh! You're sleeping in my room, and I'll be sleeping in her room!" she stated and with her index finger she pointed to her room.

"But, Sakura, you have to work tomorrow so I don't want Hinata to be disturbing your sleep, so I thought..." he said and he played with two index fingers pointing at each other (like when Hinata get shy).

"I swear, you can be such a child sometimes..." Sakura said.

"So does that mean I can sleep in her room?" he perked up.

"No!"

"But Sakura..." he groaned out. "You have work tomorrow, you need your beauty sleep, so please get some rest!" he whined out.

Seeing to no end in this, she sighed out and said, "Fine! No funny business!" she said.

"Yes! You're the best, Sakura! 'Night!" he said and closed the door.

"'Night…" she said and headed for her room. She picked up a different textbook and began reading.

Naruto scooted Hinata over closer to the wall, so he could sleep on the outside. He prompted himself up with his elbow. He brushed the hairs away from her ivory face. He then lay down, and fell asleep.

Sakura yawned and looked at the clock in her room. Her eyes widened in surprise and she quickly set the book down on the floor, turned off the lamp and covered herself in the blanket.

ZzZzZz

Somewhere in the night, Naruto felt vibrations around him. It was then that he opened his eyes to see what's going on. Hinata was huddled up in a ball with the blanket surrounding her and sweat beads forming on her skin again. He sat up slightly and shook the girl a bit.

"Hey, Hinata, are you okay?"

The only response he got was a few mumbles that he couldn't make out. He leaned closer and set his ear near her mouth and heard the words, "It's c-cold..." he touched her hand that was icy cold. Then he touched her arm and her leg. It was icily cold too. He then placed his face on her face. Her face felt cold against his hot skin. First she was blazing hot, now she is icily cold... _Did the Chinese cups have anything to do with this?_He scratched his head on what to do...

There were blankets enough to keep them warm... or at least him. The heater is on and she still thinks it's cold. What can he do? He can't wake up Sakura at four in the morning... He himself felt really hot and wanted to cool down. He looked at the shaking figure next to him. He sighed and put his head in his hands. _Think... Think...!_and it hit him in the face like a slap.

_Body temperature can be restored successfully and very fast without any heart problems if the person's body has been in freezing cold temperature. There are two processes: Sharing body heat with a close person and insulation. Insulation is where as you fill yourself comforting that can keep you warm such as stuffing newspaper in your shirt and blankets. Body heat can also be helpful where two people share the same warmth throughout each other's bodies. This way, the body will recuperate to their normal body temperature without any heart failures due to overworking the body because the body itself is shivering, which is the first sign of being cold._

That's right... That one paragraph In the textbook... It's amazing how he could remember all that. Well, I guess its special cases like these, that his brain mustered its courage to show its true power. He looked at her... He gulped.

_I hope Sakura, won't kill me..._

He scooted closer to his shivering beauty. "Hinata-chan, are you okay?"

Hinata, not knowing what time it is and thought it was around twelve replied, "I-It's really c-cold..." her teeth clattered. She sounded a bit irritated to be repeating the same thing over and over.

He then wrapped his arms around her. His chest met her back. "Better?"

"A-A b-bit..." and there were big chills that ran down her spine making her twitch. She felt a warming sensation around her.

Naruto, doing his best to keep her warm, took a breath of her cold sweaty scent. There was no change in it. The cold shakes didn't stop so Naruto told her to go to sleep in the best way she can. Of course it's not possible, but her conscious wandered off to wonderland and had left her body to shake. Naruto held her cold hands in his, and tucked her freezing feet in his thighs to hopefully keep them warm. He asked a couple of times if she was asleep, and apparently it was a yes, because she didn't respond at all.

_It's not working…_he gritted his teeth. His senses were soon focused on all aspects to keep his beauty warm... and alive. It's not like he hated this, but Sakura would kill him if she saw them together ... half naked. He decided to push Sakura's warning away and took off his shirt and kept his pants. He began to unbutton Hinata's shirt and left her with the rest on. He can't help it, but she's a bit... chesty behind her petite figure. He looked away, before he lost control. He then covered them both with the blankets.

Again, his chest touched her cold back that sent goosebumps to his skin. He held her cold hands again and he placed his head perfectly snuggly onto of her head. Hinata's body let out a gasp of surprise when their skin had touched each other. Her shivers had turned down to quivers easily. So much progress has developed and her conscious came back and went into a deep slumber like she never had before. It was peaceful, warm, and securing. Naruto could feel it. Her body temperature was returning to normal. She finally emitting heat and he himself began to fall asleep.

_Hm… it's more of skin on skin contact warmth._

ZzZzZz

Her alarm clock went off and she bolted straight up. Sakura looked around and before she recalled what happened. She didn't know when but she fell asleep... with the big textbook on her face! Maybe it's thanks to her big forehead that was able to put up a resistance of the book falling smack on her face. She looked at the clock. It told her it was eight. She quickly got up and headed to the bathroom to start her duties.

She came out after twenty minutes and began to cook breakfast. Although there seems to be almost nothing in the kitchen, but she managed to find oatmeal and all necessary spices to make a mean one.

She got the pot and placed a good amount of water and added the oatmeal mix and then waited for the mix to dissolve into some lumpy, murky, but edible mixture. Once that happened she added some brown cane sugar to it and stirred. She then added three eggs. With that she added a tad bit of salt. Then she waited for everything to be just right before she turned off the stove.

With a big spoon she fished out the three eggs and placed them in separate bowls, one for each of them. She quickly ate hers and went into her supposedly room to change. She didn't have to pick out much, except for a dark red no turtleneck half sleeve shirt and some nice dress pants to go along with her uniform code. She then wondered, 'Is Naruto awake...?'

She crept slowly towards their door, but then decided not to and opened the door abruptly. She saw... Naruto and Hinata covered in the blankets she had originally set out. she walked closer and noticed something not right. Why is his and her shirt placed on top of the chair near the desk? She then flipped the covers over Naruto and he immediately sat up with terror in his eyes.

"You!" she pointed at him with her dreaded index finger.

"Shh!" he hushed her and she quickly slapped both her hands onto her mouth to cover any more necessary sounds that might come out.

*You!* she loudly whispered with hands on her hips now. *What are you thinking?*

*She was shaking! What else should I do? I even read your textbook, and it also suggested that I do this.* he pointed out.

_Textbook?_

*What textbook?* she asked.

*The one that was in your room... Volume 6*

_Ooh... THAT textbook._truthfully she was reading several other books at once. She would read volume one for a few chapters before she switched to volume five or another one. She jumped around and so she didn't get to read up to where Naruto had read. Maybe she should stop jumping around and start reading book by book.

*What were you doing in my room!*

*I thought it might help if I go to your room...* he shrugged.

She shook he head and let out a sigh.

*How is she?*

*Fine now, I think she was finally able to sleep last night.* he said.

*I see. Well, I'm going to open my cafe...* she said and headed to door. *No funny business!* and held up her fist and closed the door.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief and laid back down on the bed to enjoy the warmth once again. Although, Hinata's getting sweaty, he wondered why. He didn't want to continue thinking about it, so he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Somewhere deep inside, he heard another voice talking to him.

**"Boy..." **it spoke to him.

"Who are you?" he spoke back without any fear.

**"Don't worry about it. I'll be here, whenever you might need me..."**

"Okay?"

The voice faded off and he woke up. With Hinata still in his arms, he felt... sticky. It didn't feel right. He then flipped the covers over and let the cool air cool her body down. He then placed back her pajama shirt and buttoned it up. He looked at the clock that read that it's eleven sharp. He scratched his head knowing that it was a small dream, but it made him slept longer than it should. He decided to take a shower to make him feel less sticky and it is time for him to go to work.

He came out of the shower feeling fresh and clean. With a white shirt and tie on, he's already looking professional. He went through his backpack and took out a contacts list. Today he had a meeting with a woman named Tsubaki. She's a 39 year old mother of five and had got into of car wreck five years ago so she's suffering from trauma. Doctors have also reported that she has a slight amnesia, but it's an important piece of information if she could remember what happened in the wreckage. He dialed her number and told her to meet him at a certain address (Hinata's apartment).

After fifteen minutes, a knock was heard and he opened the door for her. The lady was starting to get white hairs in random strands of her hair. Apparently she hasn't slept for a while because the bags under her eyes are telling him so.

"Tsubaki, come in. You look tired, have you not slept?"

"Oh I have, but I only get three hours of it before I wake up finding myself sweating in fear..." she said and gave him her coat to hang upon the rack.

"Tell me, is this your apartment? It looks so nice and clean here." she said amazed.

"Ha ha, this is my friend's apartment. I'm taking care of her because she's sick." he said and smiled.

"I see..." she said.

"Alright today, let's try an exercise." he began. "I want you to lie down and close your eyes and take three deep breathes."

The woman did as she was told.

"Now, I want you to clear your mind... of everything. Feel at peace."

The woman erased random images and her mind was left blank as a board.

"Now let your muscles relax. From your neck to your shoulders. From your hips to your toes. Just relax."

He could see the woman releasing the tension in her muscles.

"Picture yourself, at a beach, sun bathing, the wind blowing and the sound of the water receding back and pushing forward."

The woman's pulse have slowed down and he proceeded.

"You are at peace. You hear the sound of laughter. They are your kids' laughter. Your husband is with you too. He smiles to you like he never had. Now, here I ask, why can't you let go of this trauma?"

Tsubaki was dreaming about the beach. Just when Naruto had asked the question her dream shattered like glass. She began to wonder why.

_Why? Why can't I let this go? What is it that I'm so afraid of?_

"What is it that's missing? What is it that you couldn't remember before the accident? What did you do in the car?"

_I went out for shopping for groceries. I then went to the bathroom, because I had to go really quickly. Then... I... What did I do after that? Did I go into my car? Think harder!_she told herself.

She bolted straight up, eyes wide with fear, and sweat trailing down her neck and she was panting for air.

"Tsubaki-san, are you alright?"

"Y-Yes..."

"What happened?"

"I-I... Remember everything now." she told him eerily.

"Well, that's good. Please, tell me, what happened in that wreck."

"It's not what happened during the wreck... it's what happened BEFORE the wreck..."

Naruto was getting interested.

_I went to go shopping. After I had bought everything, I asked the cashier to watch my stuff so that I can go to the bathroom. It was a small bathroom made for one person. Just as I sat down, I felt something cold and sinister. I looked back and there was a window... A white haired man looked in and saw me. I could see that he held a knife... It was pretty clear, but what horrified me was... the decapitated woman he killed._" she explained as her skin crawled with goosebumps.

"Then what happened?"

_I quickly got out of there. I grabbed my groceries, and headed into my car. I then quickly left that area, but who knew that I'd meet him on the road as well. I was quite shocked, because he sped towards me at full speed and I couldn't swerve or anything, because I'll hit other people, so I took him head on. Luckily I didn't suffer from anything too major. I didn't think he would do that. I was a blink away from being unconscious, but I saw him holding out a knife that he had used to kill the other woman._

"Tsubaki-san, good job! You have solved this mystery."

"Mystery?"

"Actually it was a homicide. That woman you saw being decapitated, her names Mari. Her parents wanted to know who their killer was. The killer apparently escaped the hospital after recovering from the surgery he had taken."

Tsubaki nodded indicating that she understood.

"Now, you have to report it to the police," he said.

Tsubaki sighed. "After going through counseling, I have to go the police..."

"Stressful isn't it? Take it easy. Maybe tonight, you might be able to sleep." he said and smiled.

"Maybe..." she said.

"Thank you for your time, Tsubaki-san." he said and stood up and grabbed her coat for her.

"Why, thank you, Naruto. Such a gentle man..." she smiled. It was probably one of rare smiles that his patients ever give.

With that she left.

He looked through his contacts and smiled.

_Up next is...  
><em>  
><em>Gaara.<br>_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hey, i know, it's almost a month, that i didn't update... - gomen.**

**Anyway, yes, i have school... This chapter is... not much i say, please read and review.**

**To: Kiato Hoshtno**

I would love to be able to continue talking to you, but you disabled the private message feature... (^_^)

So enable it back, if you want me to answer your messages back, lol!

**Don't forget to REVIEW!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

_**Dear Naruto,**_

_**Happy belated birthday... Yeah, i know it was a week ago...**_

_**Sincerely,**_

_**Night**_

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS DARK. IF YOU WISH TO NOT READ THE DARK SECTION, I WILL WARN YOU.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Sakura sat down and watched the weather forecast. Apparently the weatherman that always did the forecast was replaced by a woman. She apologized saying that there was no ice storm last night.<p>

_Ice storm?_

Round and round he goes, misspoken words overthrown! Where he went nobody knows!

Sakura switched the channel to watch some kind of drama that was going on.

Fey, her other cook, appeared from the kitchen.

"Sakura-sama."

"Fey, what is it?"

"The cake from the other week..."

"Yes, what about it?"

"You should put it on the menu..."

"When I get enough customers, I will. I swear, you and Satoshi asked the same thing except Satoshi wanted to learn how to make it..."

"Well, I do want you to put it on the menu."

"Is that it?"

"It could bring more customers." he said.

"Whenever I do get more, that is..." Sakura pointed out.

"Just put it on the menu..." he said getting irritated.

Sakura sighed and told him, "Fey, why don't you just drink some coffee that I already made, and sit down."

Fey lifted an eyebrow and did as he was told. He sat down on a booth right behind her. The chair was really comfortable, better than the wooden stool where his butt always fell asleep. The coffee had a nice aroma and he drank some. The set that Sakura had given consisted of a flower designed cup with a matching saucer underneath it.

"Okay, now what?"

"Just wait and watch..."

XxXxXx

"She's annoying..."

"How so?"

"Her annoying voice, her annoying face, and her annoying undying love for me..."

Naruto gave him an 'I'm confused' look. "Who're we talking about?"

Gaara face palmed and growled in annoyance. "My fiancé!"

"Oh right, sorry."

"I have no idea how you can get side tracked in a conversation."

"Gomen, I thought you were talking about Sakura for a moment there..."

"Sakura? You mean Miss Sakura?"

"Yeah, the only Sakura that you and I only know..."

"Hn."

"Why are you calling her -san (Miss or Mister, or of a higher up)? It's so weird!"

"It's always polite to address people you don't fully know with honorifics..."

"But you've known her for at least a year."

"Well, excuse me, for being a busy business man." he said sarcastically.

"Well, considering that you enrolled in my counsel sessions just about two weeks ago, look how close we are!" Naruto said and slapped his back.

"What's that suppose to mean?" he said as he felt the burn form on his skin through his business suit.

"Nothing, really."

"Then what's the point of this topic? And how did we get to this topic?" he said as his eye twitched.

"I don't know, but most conversations end up like this."

"Hn."

"Anyway, how does Sakura relate to all this?"

"Well, since this is still counseling hours, I'm not gonna tell you..."

"I see..."

"Yeah, anything else to talk about?"

"They accepted my challenge..."

"Oh, so what's the main menu for this challenge?"

"Hand to Hand combat."

"Oh... Is that your best or worst?"

"Neither. It's not my best or my worst. But I should go train."

"You should, if you want to win..."

"No, I have to win."

Naruto nodded his head.

XxXxXx

(3 hours later...)

"So..." Fey began.

"What's the point of this?"

"Just wait and watch..."

"I have for three hours straight watching that stupid 'Son of a Mob' drama!"

"Hey, don't raise your voice. This is a restaurant." she chastised.

"Or what? There's nobody here..." he said as he calmed down.

"Exactly!" Sakura pointed out as she predicted this movement.

The shy Satoshi with his glasses stood near the door of the kitchen entrance and poked out his head.

"Ano... What's going on? It's loud..."

"Nothing, we're just discussing some matters here. That's all."

"I see… may I know what you're talking about?"

"I was trying to get Sakura-sama to put that cake on the menu, but apparently she doesn't want to." Fey butted in, with a calm manner.

"I-It's alright. If Sakura-sama doesn't want to, then we can't do anything about it." Satoshi said scratching his head with a smile on his face. One of the cute smiles actually.

"Anyways... Why are you two so wanting me to put that cake on the menu for?"

"Well, you always make the best stuff, and then let your black haired friend taste it. She says she loves it and when you try to add it into the menu; you stop and say it's not good enough. So this time we're gonna make sure you put it on the menu." he said as his long brownish grayish ponytail whipped behind him as he turned to face her directly.

"Well, it's true! It needs improvement." she said.

"Ano... For what reason? I mean your black haired friend, the red haired dude, and the blonde counselor all agreed that the cake tasted nice."

"Well, I don't feel like it, so go back to the kitchen and do... Do whatever you two do in the kitchen!" she said with arms raised in the air.

"Hai..." the two boys went inside the kitchen with a deep heavy sigh.

XxXxXx

"Naruto..."

"Yeah?"

"It's past my counseling hours..."

"Yeah and?"

"..."

"And what?"

He sighed in defeat.

"Can you tell how Sakura was related in the previous conversation?" he said in annoyance...

"Oh that! Well as a counselor, I still can't tell you."

"What! Why!" he said in annoyance in a calm manner… sort of.

"Because I'm a counselor."

"And?"

"Well, I'm a counselor AND a therapist. If I tell away some of my patients dark secrets, how am I suppose to keep on living knowing that my license are taken away, and I have scarred patient?"

"She's a patient?"

"Uh... No, not really..."

"Then why can't you tell me?"

"Well, it's sort of HER past, HER memories, you know..."

"Hn."

He looked away. Today he was chased again but with more people than he had ever expected. Since when did his so called fiancé's daddy could afford this much? Usually it was just about ten people chasing him, but now it's like a mob or two.

"So, you don't have to go work today?"

"Yeah..."

"Won't your bro and sis, get angry?"

"Yes

"Great, you can hang out with me!"

He moved his jade orbs and looked at his foolish friend who relaxed around the couch with his arms spread out.

"That reminds me, why are you still here?"

"What do you mean 'still here'?"

" Yesterday, you were here, and knowing that you don't have socks on right now, and seeing hour backpack here, it looks like to me that you stayed over here."

"Wow, mister detective. Yeah, I stayed over here." Naruto said as he wiggled his toes.

"Why?"

"Well, Hina-chan ended up having pneumonia." he said sadly.

"..."

"Anyway, that reminds me, I have to check up on her, and then you could hang out with me!" he said as he got up and looked at the clock.

"Wow, it's already been three hours..." he said and quickly ran to the bedroom.

The sick frail beauty lay on the bed sickly with sweat and ragged breathing.

"This is bad." he said as he pulled up a chair and with a box of Kleenex in one hand, began blotting her face. He sat there quietly doing this.

Gaara looked inside and quietly enters. He walked steadily and slowly. He walked near the bed.

"It seems that you like her..."

Naruto jolted a bit from surprise. His face softens and smiled.

"Yeah, I do."

Gaara looked at the black haired girl. "Is Sakura also taking care of her or is it just you?"

"Both of us are taking care of her."

"I see... Is she still a doctor?"

"Not exactly she's only reading her college textbooks to keep her memories fresh."

"I see..."

"Gaara, can I ask you something?"

"Nani?"

"Do you like Sakura?"

"As a normal person, Yes."

"What about more than just a normal person like a woman? More than a woman?"

"..." he took a moment to think. It almost seemed like five minutes before he came up with his answer.

"Depends. I have to get to know the person."

"I see..."

He dumped the sweaty Kleenex tissue away.

"Well, let's go hang out!"

XxXxXx

"Ah, how are you, smoker-san?"

"Ha~? Smoker-san?"

"Yep, you smoke don't you? Unless you recently stopped~?"

"Heh, don't be ridiculous." he said and pulled out a stick of a cigarette from the box.

Sakura chuckled for a moment. "So what will be your order?"

"Hm..." he took a moment to look at the menu. "Mm..." he looked at several selections and had seen almost the whole menu.

"Have you decided yet?"

"Hm..." Sakura took that as a no. He kept looking at it again.

"Do you need help on deciding what to eat?"

"Ah, no. That won't be necessary. Just give me a surprise. It's too troublesome on deciding what to eat." he said.

"Hai." and she picked up the menu he held out for her. She went straight to work. She asked the cooks, to cook something delicious for the man. He looked like a police man to her with the badge and handcuffs at his waist. He seemed so tired.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"Ah! Yes, please." he said. The man was busy as well. He made sounds of thinking and weird faces. He had his papers laid out in front of him. She couldn't see what the papers looked like, but she could make out the photos of people.

"Are you a cop, sir?"

"Yeah, it's troublesome..." he said as he raked some lose hair from his pineapple tied hair.

"What are you working on?" she asked as she sat down across from him.

"A troublesome cold case."

"How bad is it?"

"It's been cold for two years..."

"Well, it's not that bad, considering most cases are cold for 10 years or more."

"That's true, but we have a witness who's suffering mentally from it."

"Oh, is he or she told you anything?"

"It's a she, and after the trauma, she had amnesia, which she still does."

"Oh... Well, is she taking any therapy?"

"I don't know, but if she is, it'd be much easier for me and my team..." he stated. "Dr. Haruno..."

Sakura smiled, "Sorry, but I'm not someone who does that kind of work..."

"But I know who does..." she said and her smile turned into a fierce smirk.

He smirked back.

"I wondered where you've been all this time..."

"Was that supposed to flatter me, Detective Nara?"

Shikamaru chuckled. "No, but seriously. My team and I have been searching for you, for awhile now."

"Oh? What for?" she asked surprised.

"There's something sinister..." he began. "They call themselves 'The Dawn of the Dead'... Right now, we need your medical abilities to aid us."

"'The Dawn of the Dead...' huh?" she began. "I think I've heard about them, before I quit working in the hospital."

Shikamaru nodded his head. "Excuse me for a moment," and Sakura got up and walked to the kitchen where the cooks have finished their food making. She carried the dishes out along with chopsticks and laid them out in front of him.

"Okay, I'm back..."

"Mm, yeah" he said as he picked up a nice piece of steak.

"Shikamaru, sorry, I can't help you in this."

"Why!" he said as he chewed on it with a serious expression.

"Well, I don't see why I'm involved in this, and besides..." she began. "I'm done using my medical abilities. I'm practically a family practitioner."

"Sakura, this is serious. We need you to work with us on this case."

"I know, but I just don't see why I should..." she stated.

"Sakura, I hate to say this, but..." he began. "Your Shishou went missing..."

"Nani?"

"Your Shishou has been missing for over a month..."

"NANI!"

XxXxXx

"Man! Isn't this fun!"

"Yes, considering you're beating the hell out of me..."

"I don't care, I'm having fun!"

Gaara's selected character super power - punched Naruto's selected character. Naruto's character got back up and used a super power move. It resulted in Gaara's character to disintegrate into a pile of ashes.

"I win again!"

"Hn..."

Naruto chuckled a bit. "Cheer up, man! You're gonna be dueling with your fiancé's selected man, besides this is training for you! And you need to train a lot..."

"I should."

A sound of clicking locks was heard and...

**Click**

"Naruto, I brought-" Sakura managed to open the door half way and notice there was another pair of shoes.

"G-Gaara..."

"Sakura..." he said back. He wore a black and red sweat pants and a blood red shirt. He wasn't in his business attire which surprised her.

She walked in and set the food, she had brought in, on the small dinner table. She quickly took off her coat and said, "I didn't know you were here!"

"It's not your fault. I was supposed to go to an appointment-"

"And you did..." Naruto pointed out.

"... Yes, but I didn't know that my appointment changed locations." He said and glared at him.

"I see... So, you guys having fun? 'Cause it sure sounds like it and whose game console is that?"

"That's mine. I brought it over here, because Naruto suggested that I hang out with him today."

"Oh seems fun."

"Ha! I beat him like seven times in a row already!" Naruto said with a big smile on his face. He grabbed the chopsticks near the food and with a plate in one hand; he began to pick his food, as if he was in a buffet.

"Seven times? Wow, if you're that bad at it, I can probably beat you too!"

"I like to see you try..." he said a bit irritated.

"Ok!"

XxXxXx

"I win..." Sakura looked at him with a disappointed face. But she smirked and said, "again..."

He growled in annoyance on how bad he is at this game. "Again!"

"Alright, but I'll just win!" she said cheerfully.

Naruto, who was enjoying his moment, still had a plate of food. He picked up a piece of chicken and chewed on it. The TV screen opened up to a new battle stage. Gaara pressed random buttons while Sakura skillfully pressed specific keys.

The battle ended with Gaara's character on the floor and Sakura's character jumping for joy.

"I win~!"

Gaara sighed deeply and said, "Yes, you won..."

Sakura got up and to stretch. "Naruto, have you checked up on, Hinata yet?"

He nodded quickly like an obedient kid, "But, she doesn't look too good..." he said sadly with worry on his face.

"Did something happen?"

"No, but she hasn't woken up yet, and she still sweating... A lot."

"I see. I better go check up on her..." she said as she began her way towards the bedroom. "Gaara, there's food on the table if you want any..."

He gave her an answer in the form of a hum.

She walked in and saw a red faced girl breathing hard and moving her head slightly as she breathed.

Sakura touched her face with the palm of her hands. She could feel how hot it is and how nasty the sweat is. She quickly went outside towards the kitchen to grab a large tin bowl and filled it with hot water. She brought it into Hinata's room. Naruto popped in to see what she was up to. She shooed him away. The cloth that was supposed to be the table was nowhere to be found. She quickly ran to the bathroom and got her own facial towel and dumped it into the bowl. She locked the door.

She twisted the towel to let the water squeeze out. She unveiled the blanket, to see Hinata only in a bra. _That's right... Naruto proclaimed his reasons about body heat..._she sighed and began wiping the sweat off the girl.

XxXxXx

"Hey, Sakura's been there for a long time. What is she doing?"

"I don't know. But she's a doctor, so she knows what she's doing..."

"I see... She's been in there for almost half an hour. What could she be doing in there?" he said.

Naruto thought of images that should have been locked up in his mind. His face flushed with a rosy red color.

"What are you thinking about!"

"Thinking about what?"

"About Sakura and Hinata together!"

Gaara sighed and said, "When I said, 'what could she be doing?' It was just an innocent statement! You just took it the other way around!"

"I-I did?"

"Apparently so..." a woman voice said.

They turned around to see a disgusted Sakura with arms crossed glaring at the blonde.

"S-Sakura..." he gulped.

"Naruto! You stupid perv!" and a famous Sakura punch was delivered.

"Aye, Sakura, Gomen..." Naruto said rubbing his sore cheek.

"You better be! I bet you have lewd thoughts about Hinata all the time..."

He blushed a tomato red.

"Tch! Perv..." she said and headed towards the kitchen. "I'm going back to work. When I get back, the mess should be cleaned!" she shouted as she walked out the door.

"So this is the relationship between you and Sakura?"

"Not always. We're on good terms. She's almost like a sister to me!"

"I see."

"Come on! Let's play a different game!"

"Hn... I'm choosing the game."

"Hai, Hai!"

XxXxXx

**[WARNING: DARK CONTENT]**_  
><em>

_Where is this? It's hot, but yet cold. It's nothing but sand, and a Sakura tree. What is that? It's coming closer..._

_What is it? Is that a... a fox?_

She was naked, but that's okay, she was alone anyways.

The little soul suddenly was able to see a pool of memories below her that replayed over and over, but this one fragment of her memories, she did not recall ever happening.

_Who is that little girl? She's so small. Her life must be a happy one considering how happy she is_.

The little girl had a huge smile on her face. It was a bright smile that anyone would die for.

The scene changed and it showed a girl getting ready for bed. She had said her goodnights to her father who was a dark figure and the lights on the house went out. It was then, that a figure appeared. The little girl was fast asleep. She didn't wake up after being picked up by the perpetrator. The fox growled. The scene had changed once again.

Hinata's soul watched the pool of memories swirl around. The sakura petals landed on the pool of water while her body sank in the soft sand. The kitsune (fox) snuggled around her securely and watched the memories along with her. He licked her cheek and she simply giggled.

The scene opened up to the little girl waking up and bounded to a chair. The room was dark. The kitsune got up and growled at the scene. Hinata calmed him down, which he did. They continued watching. The perp was talking to someone on the phone. The little girl was scared. She called out for her mommy and daddy. The perp hung up the phone quickly. He then walked up to the girl and she grew increasingly scared. Her tears have finally slipped out and ran down her face. The kitsune barked.

Hinata calmed him down again, but he whimpered. She slightly heard a voice.

_*That's you...*_it said in whispers. She couldn't hear it exactly but she heard a faint voice. A voice of a woman that sounded familiar to her.

She looked around. She was sure she was alone. The imaginary wind blew. The Sakura petals slightly touched her face. She continued watching the pond.

The perpetrator held a knife in his hands. He then gently carved on the little girl's beautiful face. Hinata put her hands near mouth in disbelief, while the kitsune barked at the scene. It was a light wound, but it was deep enough to draw blood. The blood trickled down her face and dripped onto her pants. Her hands that were bounded behind the chair struggled to get free. She turned her head away, as he was about to get ready to carve on the other cheek. He didn't do it instead...

"My, my… You are one beautiful little girl. How about I free you from this chair?"

She nodded her head quickly. He went behind her, and with the knife, he cut the ropes and she was free. He then began to do something unusual.

He caressed the little girls arm, known how soft it felt to his fingertips. The little girl began to feel creeped out. He touched her short hair, and placed back a misplaced piece of hair. He then touched her carved cheek. She shuddered under his touch. He chuckled.

"How do you feel, when I touch you here?" he said and placed a hand on her midsection. His fingers almost reached to the little girl's chest. The sand that covered her began to rumble. She felt the vibrations and it died down. The little girl pushed his hand away. He chuckled again as he saw the fear in her eyes.

"Do you want any water?" he asked with a dark smile. She looked at him and wondered if it would be best to drink water now. She nodded her head. He got up and grabbed a clean bowl and filled it with purified water. He gave it to her. She had only expected a cup, but since she was gonna be here for awhile, she wouldn't know if this would be the last time she would be able to drink any liquids. The bowl felt rather large in her small hands, but she drank every last drop of it. The man smiled really big. His eyes told her something was creepy and she didn't like this sick feeling she's feeling near her chest. It felt like a dark essence have filled up her chest.

The man said, "Are you finished?" with some sort of mischievous profile behind his eyes.

She nodded her head while she wiped some of the water off her face.

"You know, I never got to hear your name. What's your name?"

The little girl remembered something her mother had told her before she had died. _Never tell strangers you don't know, your real name._The little girl didn't quite exactly know why her mother told her that, but she felt the need to listen to her mother's voice.

"H-Hana (flower)..."

"Oh, Hana..." he said. "What kind of Hana or is it just Hana?"

"J-Just H-Hana..." she fibbed.

"Oh, I see." the man looked at his watch. "You go sleep. Its late." and he got out a large piece of cardboard fit for her size and a ratty old blanket with enough holes big enough to fit he tiny arms through.

She fell asleep closely to the wall and the cardboard under her. The blanket didn't keep her much warm, but she didn't complain.

_*Wake up...*_ the same soft voice said. It was still faint. Her very soul looked around and questions popped in her head. _Where am I? Where did this fox come from? How could a Sakura tree grow in all this sand? Is this a desert?_Her mind wandered into open space. She got up and walked which the kitsune followed her obediently. The cherry blossoms and the sand near her merged into clothing to cover her body. The sand served as thread, and the petals formed into a rather long shirt, where it covered half her thighs. She walked away from the pond.

She was sure she was far away from the pond and the tree. She wanted to find civilization, but all she could see is miles and miles of sand. Nothing but sand. The kitsune barked once in awhile to break the heavy silence.

She gave up. For all she could see is sand, she gave up. She sat down to take a break. It wasn't hot or was it cold. Her feet didn't ache but her mind needed some rest. The kitsune happily jumped around her, making her smile and giggle. He licked her face. All happiness faded within a flash.

A dark sinister cloud appeared. It ran lightning and thunder within the cloud. The kitsune got off of her and began to bark at it. The cloud formed into... A human? She couldn't tell. It was the shape of a human, but it didn't seemed like one. The human cloud tried to walk closer to her. Her body told her that this fear she felt is very familiar and told her that she should be scared. Her legs began to tremble with great fear as it crept closer and closer. The kitsune kept barking furiously at it and then...

**WHAM  
><strong>  
>The kitsune jump-attacked the cloud figure, but the figure predicted this movement and with a some sort of looking arm, it wiped the kitsune away from it and he landed a small distance away from her. She trembled in fear. It crept closer and closer. The figure stopped when it was about a foot away from her. The color on her face faded away. The figure opens its eye, revealing nothing but a white glow and she turned her head away screaming.<p>

"NOOO!"

**SLITHER**

The sand, responding immediately towards her cry, wrapped itself around the cloud figure in a constricting pattern. It struggled to move. She opened her eyes and thousands of Sakura petals from nowhere appeared as if the wind had carried it all the way to where she was. The petals quickly picked her up and the kitsune who stopped moving after being practically thrown to the ground and teleported them. She caught a glimpse as to what was happening to the figure.

The figure tried to reach her, by having an outstretched arm out, but the sand from the ground, shot up forming a wall between them. The outstretched arm froze and retreated as if it knew it had lost, but continued to struggle. The Sakura petals pieces each levitating traveled them back to the memory pond.

She sat quietly on the sand and the watched as the Sakura petals revealed a mortally injured fox in front of her. The kitsune didn't look much of an adult one and he was very young. He could have lived longer.

Sure, they just met, but the kitsune made her happy. He was the only thing that was actually alive as to the moving sand and petals. She cried. The tears she tried to hold back came out. He protected her, but what did she did do when he got hurt? She sat there and cried. She couldn't do anything. She was useless.

The cherry blossoms quietly and softly surrounded the injured fox and buried it in cherry blossoms. When Hinata wiped away the last over tears, she was revealed to the cherry blossoms unveiling the yapping, wagging-tail kitsune. He jumped at her and she caught him in a hug. More tears freely fell as the pond catches them.

The next scene continued on in the pond. The little girl woke up feeling the need to go to the bathroom. The man who was talking on the phone again, hung up quickly. She adjusted her groggy eyes and looked around. She doesn't know how long she had slept, but it was still dark, so maybe an hour or so?

She wasn't fully potty trained for the little girl didn't look more than a three or four year old, but her mother had attempted to train her before she had died. She told her, _"If you feel like something right here,"_ she pointed to her abdomen area. _"Is bulging and you feel like the need to go release some energy, go use the bathroom."_

Till this day, she was still learning, but today she felt the urge.

"Do you need something?" the man said.

She nodded her head.

"What is it?"

She looked away from his eyes and sort of snuck back to her little turtle shell.

"Do you... Need to go to the bathroom?"

She nodded her head.

"Alright..." he said with another creepy smile of his.

He took her hand, something that her father rarely did, and took her towards the bathroom.

The kitsune barked once again. The sand vibrated underneath and became restless, but stopped.

_*Stop…*_the voice said again. It seemed, every time is spoke, it would sound different

The pool of memories continued from the same scene. They had reached the bathroom. The girl knew what she had to do from here. The man turned around with a huge smile on his face. She pulled down her pants and underwear. She climbed on to the bathroom seat, barely reaching there.

She released all the liquids that had built up in her abdomen area. She released a soft sigh. The buildup in her abdomen reduced in size and the sound of urine had died. She sat there wondering what to do. Her mother hadn't taught her what to do next and had died before she could finish teaching her daughter the other things she needed to learn.

"Are you done?"

"Y-Yes...b-but..." it was awkward. She doesn't know what to do.

"But what?" and he slightly turned around. He was surprised to see the girl still on the toilet. He blushed a little. The little girl's face blushed in embarrassment as her mother also have told her to always have clothes on so she looks presentable to people.

"So you aren't potty trained..." he said.

She shook her head in response.

"Well, I'll teach you..." he said with a creepy chuckle.

'Stop!' the soft voice that she was so used to turned angry at the scene. The sand grew restless once again. The fox growled showing its growing fangs. It did not calm down. Everything was moving in anger. The cherry blossoms didn't fall freely as it did. It started falling with direction towards her instead of the pond. A few pieces fell into the pond. Her soul could feel the rising anger, but she looked back at the pond, trying to focus on what's gonna happen next. She got a sick twisted knot in her chest. It didn't feel right.

The man pulled some toilet paper and snapped it to rip it away from the roll. This man must really love smiling as he kept smiling the whole time. The little girl grew very, very fearful as to what he was going to do next. The man reached under her with the toilet paper, of course. He began wiping the spot. She grew much discomforted and somehow disgusted. Then he did the most disgusting thing that no man would ever do.

She felt a slight pain as something went up inside her, moving. She froze. It started moving back and forth. The feeling with weird and foreign. It disgusted her. She wanted to throw up. All she could do was stare at the ground... Her body was tense and cold. But a loud sound cut everything off and the man that tried to 'potty train' her released something warm and wet. It dripped down to her head and some landed on her face.

The little girl looked up and saw a man standing at the door way.

Hinata snapped out of watching the pond and saw that the kitsune had grew... It didn't grow in anger, no…it grew to a full size fox... A nine tailed one to be exact. The sand that was still restless rumbled before her. The cherry tree that was once so calm swayed as if the wind was blowing on it.

She looked back to see what would happen next.

The little girl looked back at the man who was 'touching her'. He still had that creepy smile with and blood filled his mouth and slowly leaked out. She was mortified. His eyes dead. Her fear froze. She vomits on the ground. She was still on the toilet seat frozen on what to do next. She knew he was dead, but how? She forced herself to look back up. She looked around him and there it was.

A knife. The same knife that he carved on her cheek. It went through his neck and pinned him to the wall. An instant kill. She looked back at the man who killed him. He seemed familiar, but she couldn't see his eyes so she couldn't recognize him. He quickly ran towards her, took her off the toilet seat and pulled her pants back up.

He grasped her face with his big giant-like hands and shouted, "Hinata, are you alright?"

With no response other than a mortified expression, he felt something warm in one of his hands. He slowly lifted that hand and examined it. It was red and warm. He was an elite person, master of throwing knives, so it was impossible to have hit her. It was not his fault, so he did the most gruesome thing.

With her mortified expression still on, she slowly turned around to face the other direction, away from the man that had saved her. All she could hear were splatters of blood flying around and 'objects' thrown onto the ground. She vomited again on the floor.

Her mind went blank. The sand rumbled even more like an earthquake. The kitsune howled out loudly making her ears ring. The cherry tree didn't move, instead the cherry petals whooshed passed her and went in a circle forming a tornado full of Sakura petals. The memory pond now seemed very fragile as it cracked like glass. Her hands clutched the sand.

_That was me..._

That was me...

That was me...

_*Wake up!*_The same voice said but stronger than before and fiercer than ever. The sand in the air exploded, the cherry blossoms came and covered her while the kitsune watched her disappear into nothing.

**[DARKNESS ENDS]**

XxXxXx

She woke up slightly. She saw three different faces. She recognized all of them. One was crying. The other looked at her with an expression full of relief. The other one... well, he didn't show much expression, but had crossed his arms. The place was familiar. She realized that she was sleeping on a couch. How did she end up here?

"W-What's g-going on? W-Where a-am I?" she weakly spoke.

Sakura flinched, wiped a tear, and composed back to herself and asked, " Hina-chan, d-do you know who I am?"

"Y-Yes, y-you're Sakura..."

"What about me!"

"Y-You're N-Naruto... M-My counselor and my t-therapist..."

She looked at the man who arms crossed. "Y-You're G-Gaara-s-san..."

He simply nodded his head.

"H-Hina-chan! Y-You h-had m-me w-worried!" Sakura said as she cried once again.

"You had me worried too, Hinata..." Naruto said.

"Hn..."

"W-What did I-I do?"

"You got sick, that's what." Naruto said.

"Your fever was so high; I thought you were going to die!" Sakura said.

"G-Gomen, I-" she tried to get up but realized that her arms were so weak and fell back down.

"Don't! I've just lowered your temperature, so don't start moving anytime soon!"

"G-Gomen, I must h-have caused you t-trouble..."

"No, you didn't. I found more interesting things about your past, Hinata." Naruto said with a smile.

Her heart sank and she muttered out, "R-Really?"

"Yeah, so be prepared for the next session. It's going to be intense..." he warned, but covered it with a smile so she wouldn't be worried.

She smiled a bit and looked around...

"I-Is this... my l-living r-room?"

"Yeah, it is..." Sakura said as she wiped a tear away.

"H-How did I g-get here?"

"Actually, we moved you here."

"It turns out that the heater that you have behind your bed is mostly the cause of it. You might want to rearrange your bedroom when you get better." Sakura said and gave her a wink.

"A-Arigatogozaimashita, mina-san (everyone)" she said.

"It's no problem... No problem..."

"Ano, is she sleeping here on the couch now?" Gaara said for the first time.

"Yes, she needs her sleep. The heater in her room will just cause a big mess for her health." Sakura explained.

"I see, I better get going now..." he said.

"Wait, you haven't eaten yet..."

"I'll eat when I get home."

"You sure? I could make something if you'd like..." Sakura said.

"Yeah, Gaara! Stay for dinner! Besides it's Sakura's cooking too."

It was only seven. He still has time. He shrugged and said "Why not, but..."

"But what?" she asked.

"It has to be delicious." he said with a smirk.

"Is that a challenge?" Sakura smirked back with her arms crossed.

"So what if it is?" he said.

She said nothing back but he swore he saw the burning fire in her eyes as she smiled the whole time.

"Shh..." Naruto said. "She's asleep..."

They all turned to see Hinata sleeping comfortably and happily. She grabbed her coat and slipped into her shoes.

"I'll be back..." she said in a warning tone.

"I'll be waiting..." Gaara said.

She smirked again before she left.

"It looks like you're bonding, Gaara…" Naruto said as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Shut up..." And whisked his hand off of him.

Naruto chuckled. "Come on, let's finish the game..."

"Hn..."

XxXxXx

Sakura had finished cooking the meal a long time ago. Now it's closing time. With a broom, she began sweeping the not-at-all dirty floor. Sounds of water running in the kitchen were heard. Just then, the sound of the bell, above the door, had rung. She got excited. Who could this be at this time? Will they actually order food? Will there be business? She turned around and saw a woman. An elite woman.

"Hi, how can I hel-" she didn't finish her sentence. Instead a skin on skin sound was heard loudly and she felt a burning sensation on her cheek. She turned to see the woman more carefully. She had tears running down. She wore a nice baby blue jacket to cover her dark blue dress that she wore underneath. She looked furious. Her long brown hair looked as if it was caught in a fan. Her eyes had bags underneath. She looked horrible.

"Stay away from my husband!" she shouted and stormed out to the cold freezing night and into her limo.

"O-Okay?" was all she could say. Who was she?

"Sakura-sama, who was that?"

"I don't know, but who cares!" she said cheerfully and turned around to face her co-worker which gave her a weird face.

"Oh My Gosh!" Satoshi exclaimed.

"What's going on?" Fey just came out the kitchen.

"..." was all Fey could say when he saw her.

"What!"

"What happened to your face?" Fey asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked firmly.

"Here," and Satoshi handed her the shiny silver napkin dispenser.

She looked at it and there she saw it. A red hand burn imprint was there on her white skin. She blinked three times before she accepted the truth about the hand print. She clenched her fist in anger and mumbled deep thoughts to herself.

She quickly finished closing up the restaurant. Fey and Satoshi have said their goodbyes and left. Sakura, with a bunch of food to carry, was glad that she took Hinata's car instead of a cab.

_This will be one good night_! She thought and drove off into the night.

XxXxXx

Naruto and Gaara did not want to wake up the girl who was finally able to rest by playing their video games. Instead, they had decided to talk. Naruto was finally able to relax for he finally relaxed the tense shoulders he hadn't noticed that were tense at all, down. He thinks he pulled a small muscle, but his shoulders felt at ease.

"Gaara, you don't want to go home, do you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"The way you look at the room and the way you talk now. You sound very depressing and you look depressing, but you looked like you were happier when Sakura invited you for dinner."

"Yes, I don't want to go home."

"Why? Is there something waiting for you, at home?"

"Yes."

"What's waiting for you at home? Your siblings?"

"No, but ... HER."

"Your fiancé?"

"Yes."

"You must really hate her."

"Yes, I do."  
><strong><br>CLICK**

"I'm home, and I brought food!" a person, most likely to be Sakura, yelled.

"Great, let's eat!" Naruto said.

"Let's see if it is great..." Gaara said and smirked

"You'd be surprised..." Sakura said and she smirked.

XxXxXx

"Well?"

He chewed a bit before he swallowed.

"That one's good..."

"How about this one then?" she said as she used her chopsticks and picked out a fresh leafy lettuce and placed it in his bowl.

He picked it up with his chopsticks and placed it in his mouth. He concentrated on the taste before saying, "You brought out the natural taste and used it to your advantage."

"Wow, good job." she said impressed. "This one?" and picked up a piece of meat.

He chewed slowly. It tasted really good. For whatever meat it is, it tasted good. "What is this?"

"Tell me if it's good first."

"It's good."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"It's lizard tongue."

That was the weirdest thing he has ever heard of, but god it tasted so good. He grabbed another piece and ate it along with his rice.

"I'm guessing you like it a lot..."

"Hn..."

"Ano, how long are you guys going to keep doing that?" Naruto said from the living room, playing on Gaara's game console again.

"Not until I've won!" Sakura said.

"Dessert?" Gaara asked butting in.

"Heh!" Sakura said and brought the next selections over.

XxXxXx

"You know, I can wash the dishes. You don't have to."

"No, I want to because I partook in the contest, so I have to help."

"Well, okay, but you really don't have to."

"No, I want to."

She huffed and said, "Alright."

Naruto went to take a shower, and they continued chatting while washing the dishes.

"How old are you?" she asked.

"About 21. Why?"

"Well, you kinda of look young to be a business man."

Man, she does not know who he really is.

"Thank you. Are you indicating that you're old?"

"...No, I'm just pointing it out." she said a bit ticked.

He chuckled, something she didn't expect.

"What? Can't a man laugh?" he said when he noticed she was staring at him.

"No, I didn't expect you to laugh."

"I can laugh. I just don't laugh often."

"I see..." she said and smiled gently.

"You see what?" they began to dry them and place them in the cupboard.

"... I see you, that's what..." she said.

"You do? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"... Four."

"Are you sure?"

"…Yes," she said having no idea where this conversation will have lead.

"Are you really sure? You hesitated before you answered."

"Yes, I'm sure..."

"Then why'd you hesitate?"

"Because I didn't expect you to ask these questions."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Okay." he said as he gave up on the conversation.

_There's going to be round two... _Sakura thought. Naruto finished taking a shower and came out with a towel draped over his neck.

"Anything happening?"

"No, but I think I'll stay here another night." Sakura said.

"Ano, Sakura, you should go home and rest. I'll take care of her."

"Why? I'm fine, and besides, you think up lewd things about her." Sakura teased.

"I promise, I won't do anything weird." he said clearly.

"... Well..." she said.

"Please, Sakura~?" he asked in a voice of a child and with hands together begging.

"If you need a ride, I can give you one." Gaara said packing up some of his stuff.

"…Fine…" she said, knowing that she had given into his pleas too many times and

"But you'll have to sleep in my room, because there's no way Hinata's going back to her room."

"Yeah, I know."

Sakura went to her room and began packing up some stuff. It wasn't much. Just her textbooks, it's all that she needed. Gaara finished packing up his game console and his games. He wasn't a gamer, but he liked to play them when his fiancé bothers him.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah..."

"Bye guys!" Naruto said.

"Bye, Naruto! Take care of Hinata." Sakura said and walked out with Gaara.

Everything to himself now. Naruto can use her little office to access his workplace from her home. And that's what he did.

XxXxXx

"So where do you live?" Gaara asked as they got into his nice BMW car.

"In Konoha Apartments."

"In Konoha Apartments? Why are you living there?" he ignited the engines and began to drive smoothly along the road.

As he recalled, Konoha is one of the cheapest, ALMOST (just barely) a rundown apartment compound. It's functional, but low on hot water, electricity not guaranteed to always work, very cramped, water leakage, and sometimes, SOMETIMES, an ant infestation. It's still worth the money for living there though.

"Well, one: not everyone is rich and can drive a luxurious car to everywhere, even though it harms the environment. Two: It's cheap. And three: I don't have any money..."

"What happened to all the tips I gave you?" he asked extremely confused.

_So it was intentional…_"It's going to be used for the restaurant..."

"How much do you have to pay for your landlord or lady? I thought I gave you enough..." he said.

"Well, just about two months ago, the landlord raised the price. I don't know why, but she said she just needed to raise the price enough to have food on the table for her family..."

"I see... Who is your landlord?"

"Takeshima Takeru. Why?"

"Nothing thought I might know this person..." and he made a certain face of maybe confusion or frustration. It was too dark to tell. He made a left turn.

"What are you looking at?" he said irritated that she was staring again.

"... Nothing." she said and smiled to cover her embarrassing face.

"You sure?"

"...Yes."

"You really sure?" he asked. _Uh oh._

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Ok."

_...That's it? Well I shouldn't think about it too much or else karma's gonna bite my butt._

"We're here." he stated and looked at her.

She snapped out of it and said, "Oh... Arigato..." and smiled.

She stood on the sidewalk. He looked at away from her and shifted his gears. He drove off.

"Oyasumi!" Sakura yelled while waving her hand in the air. Her long scarf flowed along the howling wind.

Inside the car, even through the howling wind and the thick glass windows, he could hear her. It was faint, but he heard it clearly. His heart had thumped once. _Oyasumi…_he said and closed his eyes for a short moment and opened them again to concentrate on the road.

Sakura starred at his cherry red BMW drive off into the night. Once it wasn't in her field of vision, she walked toasted to her apartment.

Bunches of notes were tacked on to each other on her door. One after another, she didn't need to read them all. She took them off the door, and unlocked it. She headed inside to see her messy closet. She sighed and placed the depressing notes that were aimed for her head into her drawer along with others. She dropped one. She bent down and picked it up. She read it.

**"First time was a warning. Second time will be something precious."**

Of all the rest of the 'death threats' she had been receiving, this one's the weirdest. She ignored it. Pushed inside her drawer and slammed it. She went to take a shower to relax her brain.

XxXxXx

He got home. He had fun today. He really did. He opened the door to his own apartment. What he didn't know, was someone was waiting for him behind that door.

He heard the soft stifled cries. He sighed. He could feel a headache coming.

"Gaara!" she cried.

"I'm home..."

"Where were you? Your brother and sister said you weren't in your office and you weren't anywhere to be seen!"

"Well, I was hanging out with my friends."

"... Friends?" she said as she wiped her tears away. She looked horrible. Her eye makeup smeared, and her blush make-up bleeding out and also smeared on her skin.

"Yes, I have friends." he said and went to get a glass of water.

"Oh, um... Can I have their phone numbers?" she said trying to smile sweetly.

He looked at her with disbelief and anger hidden behind his facade. "No."

"W-Why?"

"Because you'll creep them out." and he sipped his water.

"I-I promise I won't stalk them..." she said.

"No."

"I-I -" she stopped. "Gaara, you smell weird." and she creeped up on him. And with the sound of her sniffing on him, he shrugged her off.

"You smell like you had a woman on you!" she said furiously and pointed at him.

"I have friends who are women too, you know." truthfully he never thought about it. Sakura, a friend? Maybe.

"Oh... Can I have HER phone number?" she asked.

He narrowed his jade eyes at her. "No."

"B-But I-I can be friends with her, go shopping, do make up and do girlie stuff and, and, and –"

"Enough, Matsuri, enough." he said. "You know, just leave. Just leave. I've had enough about it. I never wanted to marry you. You only thought of that for yourself. I already broke off the contract ages ago, so leave!"

"I... I..." tears forming in her eyes.

"Go!" he said sternly.

She ran out of the door with her hands covering her face. He sighed. The major problem of his headache, that had begun to form when he first entered the door, had begun to fade away.

He sat down on his couch and the first thing that popped into his mind was that woman. He closed his eyes.

Behind his door, Matsuri was still standing there, stifling her cries. _I'll get you for this!_ she thought. She wiped the last bit of her tears as her makeup ran down her face and stormed out of this scene.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: To my readers...**

**I'm sorry i haven't updated... I was supposed to update on Naruto's Birthday (Oct.10) but things came up and yeah... yeah...**

**I hope you like this chapter...**

**Now go review... I need reviews for my imagination!**

**P.S: This is the longest chapter out of all my stories... Not counting my notes and disclaimer it's about 8,397 words... **

**So Review if you want me to keep giving long chapters! **

**Reveiw**

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><strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Happy belated Birthday, Hinata... even though I am about a day late.**

**Merry Christmas  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"So now that we're all here, let's get started!" Naruto said as he sat down on the small red seat behind him. A table was put in the middle between everyone. It felt a bit homey, despite the fact this is a family intervention.<p>

Neji and Hiashi, along with Hinata sat down on the soft red velvet couches. Hinata had sat on the long soft couch, while Neji and Hiashi sat on the single couches. They were in an isolated room in the building Naruto worked at. The atmosphere was tense. They were all in their business attire. Maybe Naruto should have told them to come in casual clothing to soften the atmosphere, and sight everyone can get comfortable and feel more relaxed.

Neji kept a calm but unstable face posture. He did not want to be here. He did not schedule for a meeting with a counselor. He wanted to go back to his isolated office where he can relax. He can feel the tension in his shoulders building up. He was pushed to the edge when Naruto had asked him. How childish he can be! He clung to him on his leg like a child, begging him to come and participate. How embarrassing! Him, a Hyuuga, have never seen such a grown man act like that, and it sent chills down his spine, just thinking about it.

Naruto, with great effort had managed to get Hiashi and Neji to come to this meeting. He begged Neji, and Hiashi had originally disagreed, but Naruto threatened to tell the police department the truth about Neji's father. He reluctantly agreed, but then again, what can he do? Seriously, he's just a counselor. Nothing to it, but then again, counselors do have some sort of hidden power within their career. But he, himself is the higher-up with a status higher than him. He was known for being the President of Hyuuga Corps, and he could sue him for however much money that puny man has. But... it's best not to do anything and listen to what the puny man has in for him.

Naruto didn't need much effort to get Hinata to come, but she seemed restless. She was shaking a bit, but he knew something bad was bound to happen so he asked Sakura to come as well to calm the beauty down.

Sakura had taken a great time to think about it. She debated with herself to whether to go and stay at the restaurant, or to help her best friend out. Of course, she ended up helping out her friend from the kindness of her heart. She had her cooks set everything up and told them, "If there is a customer, call me immediately. I'll come running here." This lightened up the tension in her cook's hearts, but there were series of doubts such as 'Doubt she'll come running.' and 'Doubt we'll be able to handle a customer...'. Sakura knew her cooks well, so she trusted them to be able to handle everything... well almost everything.

Naruto had a clipboard and a blank sheet of paper. He then began, "So, what started all of this?"

Everyone was hesitant. They all knew it was all dated back to when Hinata was a little girl. They didn't say a word.

_It's gonna be a long day..._it was only ten in the morning.

"Okay. I'll try a different strategy. Hiashi, why is your family split into two groups, as in the main branch and the lower branch?"

"It was our ancestors' idea." he first began. "We follow tradition."

"But tradition has changed... Why do you still follow it?"

"We honor our ancestors like that. It was something our family had ways done for generations."

"I see." Naruto said and wrote some notes down.

Sakura whispered kind words to calm her friend down as she was shaking a bit from nervousness.

"Now what are the main branch, and the lower branch?"

"The main branch is where the higher ups are..." Neji cut in.

"Please explain further detail."

He huffed and began, "The higher ups, or people born the eldest are put into this branch. They can also be placed as by skill." Neji said irritated.

"Skill?"

"Yes, skill... Like a music talent, a calligraphy writing talent."

"Does it have to be a talent?"

"Not necessarily. It could also be how hard you work as a young child like getting good grades."

"I see." Naruto wrote some notes down. "What about the lower branch now?"

"The lower branch is where people serve the main branch."

"How do you get placed in the lower branch?"

"It could be your parents who are in the lower branch, or ..." he hesitated for a moment. "You don't have the skills..."

"So, let's say, i have a drawing skill, I will be placed into the main branch..."

"No, it doesn't work that way. It has to benefit the world around us."

Naruto nodded his head and scribbled words onto his sheet of paper.

"So, why did your ancestors split into two groups?"

"It was for discipline. The better you are, the better you are off. If you cannot match up to the standards, you fail to match up with them. Once a failure, always a failure. You can't change that..."

"Okay. If I were to change that favorite sentence of yours, I won't be considered a failure, correct?"

Hinata tensed up a bit. Her hands that were on her lap were in fists clenching really hard. Sakura placed her soft hands over Hinata's.

"If you can change that, then yes." Neji said and smirked.

"Alright. Watch me..." Naruto said back.

There was a moment of silence.

"Alright, I have another question for you, Neji."

"What is it?"

"Are you a genius?"

"Within the family, yes. Why?"

"For the sake of this meeting, I had to gather information before I can continue. I just needed a confirmation. So what kind of genius, are you?"

"Just a strategist genius..."

"Strategist? As in for battle?"

"Not for battle, but for business."

"Explain."

"Business is like war. You're fighting to bring people to buy your products. You don't want to go bankrupt, so you have to come up with a plan to bring more people to buy your products."

"I see." and nodded his head.

"Now I have a question for Hiashi."

"You may ask."

"Since Neji is a strategist genius, then why isn't he in the main branch?"

"Our elders have decided it, not I. There's nothing I can do..."

"So do the elders have power over YOU, even though you are head leader of the Hyuuga clan?"

"Yes. As long as they are present, there are numerous restrictions as to what I can do..."

"May I ask another question?"

"You may."

"What can they do? They're just elders. It's not as if they're going to be able to ground you if you break their rules."

"Within, the Hyuuga clan, there are secrets I cannot share."

"Secrets?"

"Yes, I cannot reveal them, or i will join with my brother."

Neji grimaced and Naruto took note of that. _Join your brother..._

"Since it's a secret, I will not ask for more... But I do have another question..."

"You may ask."

"What happened to Hinata?"

She gasped silently only enough for Sakura to hear. *It's okay...*

"Excuse me, but may I ask why is there a lady here with her?"

"I asked her to be here, because I felt that she might need some comfort..." he said. _And my gut told me to bring her..._

"I see... Carry on."

" Uzumaki-san-"

"Call me Naruto." he cut in.

"Naruto, what do you mean, what happened to Hinata?"

"Well, there's obviously a trauma in her life considering how much she stutters upon her words and the lack of confidence." he said loud enough for Hinata to hear. He said it as if he's stating the obvious.

Hinata definitely heard it and kind of shy away behind Sakura.

"It was when she was young, that she was kidnapped... Naruto..." he called out.

"Yes?"

"Do you know the whole story of it?"

"Well, I've heard bits and pieces from a friend..."

Hiashi nodded his head. "Neji..."

"Yes, Hiashi-sama?"

"Have YOU heard of the whole story?"

"I've heard various versions..."

"I see..." Hiashi said.

"Hiashi-san, what are you trying to tell us?

"My viewpoint of the story." he said strongly.

This, Naruto was interested. "Please do tell."

"That day when Hinata was kidnapped, I had not known it was bound to happen, but it did. The middle of night, I woke up to a loud disruption. I had gone to her room to check on her, but she was nowhere to be found. Hinata was just a little girl when her mother died. I didn't know how to raise a young girl, but like any other parent, I gotten worried. I then had received a call from my attackers. There was more than one voice. I had called the police knowing that their technology will help me find my daughter." he began out. "It didn't take long for them to trace them. We found their hideout, and the police had given me privilege to finish up everything."

Hinata began to let her tears that she had been holding back slip out. Sakura, Naruto, and Neji caught this. Naruto quickly reached for a box tissue and placed it in on the table. "Sorry to interrupt your story, Hiashi-san, but Hinata..." he began out. "Why are you crying? Do you remember everything?"

There were pillows on the couch she was sharing with Sakura. She took one and held it over her face so only Sakura may know what's wrong. *S-Sakura-san, I-I..." she stated at first.*

*Nani, Hina-chan?*

*I-I...*

*Do you want to leave?*

*N-No...*

*Then what is it?*

*I-I r-remembered e-everything.*

Sakura sat straight up when she heard it.

"What is it Sakura?" Naruto asked.

"N-Nothing. Nothing for now..."

"It's obviously something..." Neji said.

"You can't be sure," Sakura said defending herself.

"Now, back on topic." Naruto said breaking up the fight that would occur the next second.

Hiashi began to explain again, "I had been giving a bulletproof vest, and a knife to protect myself. I walked in and there were countless others, who surrendered. They were weak, if I may say so. All they had wanted was money, but I had asked where my daughter is."

_She's no longer your daughter anymore... You threw her away._Naruto thought in his head.

"They pointed to a room, and I took a look. Hinata..." he paused. "Hinata was using the toilet. I didn't know what to say as a parent, because I saw another person teaching her. I didn't know if I should be proud or I should be sick. I quickly killed him off. I ran to her and checked up her. I asked her if there was anything wrong. She didn't give me any other expression other than a mortified look. I held her face in the palms of my hands, and she still didn't answer... And when I looked at the palm of hand, there was blood and I saw it on her cheek, that it was scratched."

Hiashi took a deep breath. "After that it was over, like a flash."

_He didn't see..._Hinata looked freaked out. 'He didn't see what happened to me.'

"Hinata?"

She looked at the voice who called out her name.

"Hinata?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Are you alright? You look kind of pale..."

"I-I'm fine..."

"You sure?" Sakura asked.

"Y-Yes..."

"Sakura, I would like for you to step out and wait outside, while we discuss more important matters," Naruto said.

She simply nodded and silently wished him good luck on solving the family problem.

"Now, we can get started." Naruto said as he sat back and crossed his leg.

"Neji, why do you hate Hinata? What has she ever done to you?"

"She took away my father..."

"She took away part of my childhood...

"She's weak."

"She's not capable of surpassing me."

"She's a failure..."

Naruto did not have his calm composure anymore. He uncrossed his leg and placed his elbows on his knees. His hands locked together and were placed close to his lips.

"Why do you say she is weak, and she took part of your childhood?"

"At a young age we were forced to learn how to fight and to defend ourselves. We took practices and duels. She has never been able to surpass me... Once a failure, always a failure for life. I never have wanted to participate in outside events like this, but I was forced… "

"Now I have another question..."

"Go on..."

"Why do you always say that?"

"... Because my father failed and he had to die..."

_Failed? His father failed? At what?_

"It was not his fault..." Hiashi spoke in.

"That's right... it's not his..." he began. "It all her fault!" as he jumped up and pointed at her despite knowing that he's blaming the daughter of his boss/uncle. Hinata with dilated (not sure if that's possible...) eyes stared at him.

"Why is it her fault?" Naruto snapped.

"It's all her fault that my father was forced to die! It was her fault that she had been kidnapped!"

"She was only a child, barely learned to be potty trained and barely knew the world! You can't blame her for that! It has to be more reasonable!"

"It is reasonable!"

"How!" Naruto said in disbelief.

"I was taught about kidnappers at around her age, so it shouldn't make any difference about anything!"

"What? Statistically -"

"STOP!" the voice of the only woman shouted. Everyone looked at her.

"It's m-my fault... I-It's all m-my fault..." she stated sadly and hung her head low.

"Heh, that's right. It's your entire fault. You shouldn't be alive!" Neji said with an arrogant look and a smirk on his face.

**PUNCH**

The horrid sound of a fist and cheek hitting each other was heard. Hiashi didn't have to look up, instead he closed his eyes, but he kept an extremely serious emotionless face. Hinata placed both of her hands over her mouth with her silver eye balls shaking in disbelief

"You! What was that for! I can sue you for all you have!" Neji said as if he had felt nothing.

"Shut up!"

**PUNCH**

He took another blow his face again.

"Hina-chan, it was never your fault! It was never your fault to begin with!" Naruto said through his clenched teeth.

Hinata's heart skipped a beat.

Neji had felt the rising anger in him build up as he was on the ground. Naruto picked him up by the collars of his white shirt and threw him onto the chair.

"Now tell your side of the story, Hina-chan!" Naruto said going back to his seat. The anger was still there and it was still not enough. He punched Neji not once, but TWICE as hard as he could and he was still unsatisfied.

"I-I... d-don't know w-where to b-begin..."

"Tell us what happened during your kidnapping," Naruto said trying to reassure the girl.

"Wait, she remembers?" Neji butted.

"Before I arranged this intervention, I wanted to confirm if she remembers or not... It was all I asked of her. I haven't even heard her side of the story yet."

Hiashi opened his eyes that were closed from the moment the fight began till now.

This, he had to listen.

"I-I remembered... I w-was tied to a chair. There was only one man..." Hinata said trying to sound confident.

"Then what happened," Neji said wanting leave this intervention quickly as possible.

"Don't rush her." Naruto said and turned to Hinata who had her hands that were clenched tightly on the edge of her business skirt. He gently placed his hand onto of hers. She lifted up her head that was hung low for quite a while and saw his gentle smile.

_Confidence... Comes from the heart_she distinctively remembered him telling her this before the intervention.

She smiled.

She took a deep breath.

She began.

"That man... H-He was talking o-on the phone. It was dark. I j-just woke up. I-I couldn't hear what he was saying because I-I was a bit groggy."

She took another deep breath.

"A-At that time, I was scared. I was so scared..." she said. "H-He walked up to me, and he had a knife. I-I thought I was going to d-die... But h-he didn't kill me."

"I-Instead he s-scratched my face with it..." she said. "H-He was going to do the same on the other side, b-but... but..."

"But what?" Naruto questioned.

"He told me that I was pretty and he f-freed me from the c-chair. T-That man was weird... He wouldn't stop s-smiling, and he kept t-touching me! He k-kept touching my a-arm, m-my chest, and m-my body. I-it didn't feel r-right and it felt wrong..." Hinata said now wrapping her body with her arms.

Naruto quickly got up and the Hyuuga members looked at him. The way his back is angled and how high his shoulders were told everything. His clenched teeth spoke it well too. Not to mention he had this burning feeling of wanting to kill someone right and at the same time he felt sick. He was simply mad.

He called Sakura back in. She quickly got in and saw the poor girl holding herself and struggling to stay sane and not lose her grip.

Hinata felt the nice soft embrace and a warm pair of arms around her the familiar scent was known too. She began to relax.

"H-He gave me w-water..."

"And you didn't consider it to be poisonous?" Neji cut in.

"She was young! She didn't know!" Sakura shot back. "Continue on, Hinata-chan..."

Naruto's pulse peaked up from all the anger he had suppressed.

"I-I reluctantly took it... I-I had c-considered that I-it might be my l-last time to d-drink water... He had filled a bowl... About this big..." she gestured to show them.

"I-I drank all of it... He was happy... H-He s-smiled again l-like its w-what he wanted t-to happen, a-and h-his eyes... They were big... He also asked f-for m-my name..."

Sakura stroked her back...

"I lied to him. O-Okaa-san (mother, or mom) told me b-before t-to never t-tell strangers my r-real name..." and she began to fill her eyes with tears... Oh, how she misses her mother... How she could've been there to teach her more about the world!

"He then told me to g-go sleep. H-He was nice enough to give me a b-blanket, e-even though it had holes... I didn't complain."

Her eyes began to fill up her eyes. Without blinking, they had fallen. Naruto took notice of this and watched her expressions closely. He leaned in closer listening to the sound of a crying angel. Eventually his head lowered knowing something bad was about to happen.

"W-When I-I woke up, it was s-still dark. I a-assumed it w-was still dark..."

"But, I-I needed to g-go to the bathroom... I had d-drank too m-much water..." she closed her eyes remembering the dream. She felt sick to her stomach.

"I was curious... at that time. How did you teach yourself... to use the bathroom?" Hiashi questioned.

She opened her eyes.

She looked at him straight in the hereditary eyes of his.

"I don't know..." it was straight an foreword and it's truth.

"T-That man knew that I needed to go to the bathroom, so he took me there."

"At least he was nice enough to look away when I was using the bathroom... but how did he know that I wasn't trained? I don't know."

Sakura noticed something different about Hinata. She quickly looked at the girl's face and her eyes were flourished gray. She looked back at Naruto, who perked his head up when he saw her head turned towards him. It was not him. It was not her. And it was certainly not them. Who could it be?

Naruto had noticed it too. But he, also, doesn't know who's doing it. But then again, if it's not them, and not Sakura or him, could it be that she did it to herself?

He watched her.

"When I didn't know what to do after I finished, that man smiled happily as if it's all he did, but he had this weird creepy look in his eyes."

"Nobody taught me how to use the bathroom. They've attempted, but... it didn't work. But this creepy man... he helped me through it. Except..."

"H-He s-stuck a f-finger i-inside m-me..." she began to shake like a leaf.

Once he heard that one statement he lowered his head a bit more controlling his monstrous mind from snapping. Neji who had who had lowered his head snap it back up. The color of Hiashi's face was pale.

Sakura looked at Hinata who continued to shake and put her arm around her. Gathering up the tissue, she began wiping Hinata's face. Her voice though was loud and clear. Not a hint of weakness was heard.

Naruto saw her eyes changing. _She had her confidence... She lost it..._

That's right, Naruto. Hinata had her confidence up until... the horrid truth.

"A-After that, I b-believe Otou-san c-came and killed him."

There was a moment of long silence. She hid her face behind Sakura's shoulder hiding her tears and everything. She had come a long way to tell her family what had happened... but the truth is... She was more scared of their reaction and rejection more than anything else in the world. Would she be condemned for life if they had known what happened to her? Would they allow her to exist in the world still? Would they take her back? Would they understand... Or would they still abandon her? Leave her alone? She had more thoughts on that.

The long silence was unbearable. Seeing this had nothing to do with her, but it DID! it certainly did. There were more secrets that Sakura hold more than anything else.

"Neji-san..." she called to him. He looked at her with fierceness of his face.

"How did you feel... about her side of the story?"

Yet, another long silence plagued them...

"I feel nothing for her. Nothing." he said with his arms crossed.

Naruto, with his pointy hair going all different directions, had his hair covering his eyes so no one could see his expression.

"Sakura, go wait outside again... Please."

"But..." she looked at the unstable girl...

"Onegai, Sakura... Onegai." he was shaking, trembling uncontrollably.

Sakura got up, but Hinata clung onto her like glue begging her to stay... She calmly whispered, *I'll be back... Naruto will take care of you, I promise...* and the she let her go...

Sakura walked out closing the door behind her...

"So, what are you-" Neji began, but he was cut off.

**PUNCH  
><strong>  
>Hinata, being surprised by another hit, and gasped. She looked at Naruto who didn't seem like Naruto. His eyes were red of fury, and she had wanted to ask about those scratches on his cheek but she never had the chance to, and now those scratches are more fuller and are more... broader? She couldn't find the term for it, but they were full and seemed more like claw marks rather than scratch marks.<p>

**Click**

Sakura heard it... or at least her medical intuition had heard it loud and clear. She had opened the door and peek her head inside and just caught the sight of baritone punching Neji. They didn't hear or see her, so she quickly closes the door quietly and swiftly. She shouldn't have done that... Sure, anticipation was killing her, but she was sure that something bad was bound to happen and she was right. Just so happened, her very cheap cell phone rang. It didn't even deserve the name cell phone actually. It was much more like a tracker phone. Just call in and call out. No Internet, no apps, and definitely no texting.

"Sakura! It's a customer! What do we do!" it was the voice of her beloved cook, Satoshi sounding very dramatic.

"On my way!" she said and grabbed her coat, slipped into her shoes, and ran out of the building and into the snow. She headed towards her restaurant of course.

XxXxXx

Back at the intervention...

"You...! How could you NOT FEEL ANYTHING FOR HER!"

Hinata's eyes filled with more tears. When was it the last time that she had felt this kind of love? It's been too... long. For the first time, she had felt happy that someone support her. Sure, Sakura has supported her, but that's different. Sakura had supported her through those times when she's in a pinch. Naruto... He... Naruto was her counselor and therapist for a little over two weeks, but he had helped her SO MUCH through the times she had spent with him. And now, here he is, defending her, supporting her, cheering for her, and FIGHTING for her!

"I don't feel anything for her, because I've always hated her. In this world, we can hate anyone we want..." he said defiantly.

"Enough! It seems that we will have to settle this with the traditional way. Hiashi said trying to break up the fight before it got any worse.

"Yes, Hiashi-sama..." Neji said gaining his composure back.

"We can always use the dojo..."

"That's fine with me." Neji said. Hiashi got up. Naruto had promised that they would do this for only about an hour and half.

"If the elders love tradition so much for you to not being able to do anything, then I'll change it! I'll go over here and challenge anyone who opposes ME! " Naruto turned and faced Neji. "I will win."

_This boy…_Hiashi simply thought.

"Not likely..." he said back and turned around and his back faced Naruto's face.

"Don't be so arrogant!" Naruto said through his clenched teeth.

Nevi simply stared at him without facing him using his peripheral vision. He then walked off along with Hiashi.

Naruto was fuming with anger... but then his little angel came by and calmed down just a bit. She looked a bit horrified, one of her hands was folded and was near her lips, and her other hand was pulling on his white shirt sleeve. Her eyes didn't look at him directly, just off to the side.

"Nani?" he said completely out of anger now.

"..."

"Nani?" he asked again and sat back down on his chair.

"N-Neji-s-san is... strong." she managed to say.

"Don't worry; I'm strong too, so we're even."

"N-No... N-Neji-san t-takes practices e-ever since when we w-were little... A-And he s-still does."

"Don't worry, I've taken some lessons before in the past." he said and gave her thumbs up with his chagrin.

Hinata couldn't help it, but she had to smile on that.

"Oh yeah, Sakura..." he walked out the door that was opened because neither Neji or Hiashi closed it, and Sakura was nowhere to be seen.

"I think Sakura has left..." he said to Hinata who was staring at the room. She turned her head towards him and made a blushing smile. Naruto smiled back.

XxXxXx

"I'm..." (huff) (huff) "HERE!" Sakura said reaching the nearest table to sit down.

"How..." (huff) (huff) "Can I..." (huff) (huff) "help you?" Sakura said to the customer was a man.

"Ano... I just wanted to know where the bathroom is..." He said.

"I-Is that all?" she asked with a fake smile on her face and a vein popping on her lower cheek.

"Y-Yes..." the man backed up feeling the immense murderous aura from her.

Sakura sighed in defeat. "It's that way..." pointing in the direction and let her head hung low... The man quickly ran towards the bathroom, not for sake of peeing his pants, no, it's more for the sake of peeing his pants from the horrendous aura Sakura emitted out.

Sakura sighed again. _He didn't food..._

"Hey, Sakura you handled the customer!" said the cheerful Satoshi.

"Yeah, I handled the customer, that none of you could handle, even though he wanted to use the bathroom, yeah... What of it?" she said very pissed off.

"Eh heh heh..." Satoshi laughed nervously backing up from her.

Her vicious aura was strong. Poor Fey came out at the wrong time and felt the presence of a killer. His stoic expression quickly changed and starred at the situation in front of him. He slowly side stepped back into the kitchen.

The man, who finished using the bathroom, came out and immediately Sakura changed demeanor. She faked smile and it scared the man.

"Eh ha ha... Ano... Would you like some food?" she asked hoping she would be able to make some business.

"Um... Sure..." the man said not sure what the woman would've done if he had not.

The transaction was done. The man ordered simple stuff like cheesecake and an ice coffee. He left about a dollar for tip. Sakura felt him pitying her, but it was okay, because she had a customer!

XxXxXx

It was at least two when they had decided on what time they had wanted the match to start. Hiashi had to gather up the elders of six and as much as he had expected, the elders refused to go and to simply watch a simple match between a some counselor and Neji.

"It is not what you think... If you think about it, why IS there a counselor... CHALLENGING Neji?"

The old mind of the elders began to process the information.

"Yes, why is there?" one old Hyuuga man had said.

"if you come, then you will know..." Hiashi told them.

"It better be good! If I watch this ridiculous match, and I'm not satisfied, you'll be hearing-" an old elder began but she was cut off.

"Yes, I know... I'LL be hearing you talk about how you missed your precious show..." Hiashi said annoyed with this elder. Hey, being grown up has its limits too!

XxXxXx

Out on the road, Naruto was heading towards someone's place. Thinking about the match, it aggravated him. Why is she the one to pick on? Why are they so cold? Why didn't they hear her side of the story? Just why? His mind shook, and his teeth clenched. He had already packed his clothing. He knew he was rusty, but hey, at least he had experience better than not having any at all! He automatically knew who he should talk to for this match. He quickly dialed the phone number of his one best guy friend: Gaara.

The sound of the phone was heard ringing on the other end. It had rung for a while. It finally clicked as it connected him through.

"Gaara, it's me. I'm coming over to Suna Corps."

"Why?"

"'Cus I need your help!"

"On...?"

"Teach me your fighting skills!"

"..." the sound of him groaning over the phone was heard.

"Naruto, I'm kind of busy, and I'm in the middle of an appointment..."

"Well, finish up the appointment, and teach me!" he said kind of impatiently.

Behind the phone, Gaara's hairless brow twitched.

"Look. I'm BUSY. And I thought you knew how to fight... Plus, I'm not the right kind of person you should be talking to..." he said strictly.

"I don't care; I'm coming over to Suna Corps. Besides, YOU need to train too!" and he hung up the phone.

Well, he does have a point...

Gaara huffed and pinch the bridge of his forehead. He continued the appointment with his clients trying to wrap things up...

XxXxXx

"This is... awkward..." Gaara said looking at his friend already in his karate uniform. He had his arms crossed looking at him. They were in Suna Corp's basement gym, where their employees can relieve stress through workout and Gaara has his own personal gym. A small corner of the gym. He didn't need much equipment at all. His company is rather huge, so there was plenty of other equipment in the gym. He only needed his corner, where nobody knows what he does in there because it's covered by thick walls. Naruto would be the lucky kid, because he gets to see his personal gym. It was just a room nothing but wooden floor.

"No, it's not..."

"Yes... It is. I'm a kick boxer, and you're not."

"Well, it doesn't matter; just teach me YOUR moves..."

Wait, what?

Gaara's hairless brow twitched again, and he snarled. "And now you tell me this! Couldn't you have told me sooner!" he was mad. No, he was pissed off. He was apparently in his business attire, and Naruto, just now is like almost ASKING for him to change. Wasting his time was one of his pet peeves. It aggravated him. He growled at him.

"Eh heh heh..." Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

Gaara quickly walked to the locker room (this one's public) and quickly stripped away his business attire, and put on just a pair of boxer shorts, black and red striped on the sides to be exact! Since its just kickboxing it wasn't necessary to wear any shoes, but he did bandage his ankles. As for his hands, he never wore gloves since it didn't apply enough force to strike down his opponent, although they did protect his knuckles well but he just didn't feel right, so he wore bandages as well, but there IS a certain glove that he does wear. Those fight gloves. Those fingerless padded gloves. if his knuckles were injured badly, he'd wear those, but... we're not fighting anyone, we're training.

He walked out and ignored the fact that everyone in the gym looked at his body with envy. Women have swoon over him, but they were those lousy, money-grabbing whores who sleep with any man just to get the money...

As he entered his private corner, Naruto had finished stretching. He looked at him, and Naruto looked back at him...

"Naruto..." he said.

"Yeah?"

"What do you specialize in?"

"Enshin Karate, why?"

"Trying to figure how to train a karate type, while I'm the kick boxer type..." he said as his eyes narrowed down.

"Well, you don't have to. Just teach me your moves. Kickboxing has parenthood and it came from Karate. So just teach me YOUR moves!"

That's right, how could he have forgotten! He has taken karate at least once or twice in the past before he has his heart given up to kickboxing. He face palmed for himself and before he calmed down. There is too much work weighing on his shoulders. He is stressed out. Hey, maybe this training with relieve some his stress...

"Alright, let's get started..." he said.

And they had begun with a one-on-one spar. It amazed Gaara, how his friend who had claimed to be rusty, was packing the punches into him. But, he wasn't totally beaten down, as he punched and kicked back. Naruto dodged as much as he can. He hadn't exercised in a while, make that a long time. He couldn't have dodged Gaara's specialty and he took a big hit to his face.

It was nearly ten minutes after they have started. They were very even. Gaara hadn't trained in a while, or rather it seemed forever since the last time he entered his gym. Naruto dodged a kick aimed for right side, and attempted to attack back. Gaara, having an upper hand, stopped one of Naruto's attack with one hand and attacked back with the other hand making his friend wobbling backwards.

Naruto straightened up and with quick speed, he appeared right behind Gaara, and managed to land a high round house kick, making him staggering to the side and making his vision blurry.  
>Once his friend has gotten his vision under control, he put himself in defense mode.<p>

They finished fighting and were on the ground all sprawled out and breathing heavily. Sweat poured down on them.

"That... was a good workout…" Gaara said as he evened out his breathing.

"Workout? I thought that was training..." Naruto said as he sat up.

"Heh, that was nowhere near training..." he stated. "Did you learn anything?"

"Just a couple..."

"That's good. I learned some things too..." Gaara said.

"You did too? That's great!" his ever so happy friend said.

**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**  
><strong><br>CLICK**

A man entered and automatically bowed down in respect.

"Gaara-sama, you have a meeting in a hour."

"Hn..." was his response. The man left the room and closed the door behind him.

"Can we have another go at it?" Naruto said.

He thought about it... Yeah, he'd rather have fun with this than go to a stupid meeting.

"Sure..." and they both got up a d were sparring again.

XxXxXx

It was only two. Hinata was panicking a bit. She drove herself to Sakura's cafe where she knew her best friend would be there waiting for her. She quickly parked her car and headed in her restaurant still in her business attire.

She was immediately welcomed with the warmth of the restaurant along with the relaxing smell and environment it had given off.

"Oh, Hinata-chan, I thought you'd be working right now, since it's two." Sakura began.

"N-No, not for n-now..." Hinata said with worry in her eyes.

Sakura immediately brew some vanilla coffee for her. It was another cloudy day... Hopefully snow won't hit the ground again.

"Hinata-chan, just relax. Believe in Naruto. I don't know what has happened but believe in Naruto." she said and wrapped her arms around Hinata.

She drowned herself in the smell of her friend along with the smell of the restaurant. Sakura then, began to massage her shoulders. Sakura could see how tensed they were. Using minimal strength, she rubbed it in small circles. Once her friend was relaxing greatly, she massaged it a bit harder and in bigger circles. Eventually her friend was about to fall asleep. She stopped, Hinata bolted up.

"A-Arigato, Sakura-san..."

"No problem," Sakura replied and gave her the vanilla coffee.

She smelled it before she drank it.

"Hinata-chan?"

N-Nani?"

"Ano... I have to go home, to get a textbook..." Sakura said with her hands in prayer form.

"S-So, you're a-asking me to w-watch the business!"

"Yes... But don't worry! I'll be quick and fast, and it's not likely that there will be anyone coming through these doors..." Sakura said.

"O-Okay..."

"Great! I'll be quick and fast! I promise!" she said.

"Hai..."

Sakura quickly borrowed Hinata's car and drove herself home. Traffic wasn't that bad, and the road seemed empty. She arrived at her apartment in less than ten minutes. When she reached her door, it was slightly opened...

Her heart was racing, the adrenaline rushing through the head, and her hand shook. She pushed opened the door, and saw everything a mess. Her apartment was small really small. It only consisted of a bed, a desk, a bathroom and the kitchen was just right there next to the bathroom. There's a bookcase next to her desk. Then there were cupboards of little food such as ramen, and bags of chips placed in there. She has a closet, a very small closet to be exact. The walls were cracked and peeling.

She had seen her bed covers all over the floor. The papers all over the floor and everywhere else. Her books that were upon the bookshelf have collapsed and everything was a wreck. Her closet was wide open, where she had hidden most of her recipes in except for her latest cake recipe. She had hidden that somewhere else. Her clothing were all over the place, on the stove, hanging from the cupboards, on her desk and some of her clothing were torn... Now, who would dare to do this to a WOMAN? They were asking to die.

She looked at the scenery. What did they want?

She was poor... almost dirt poor. Barely being able to keep paying rent and barely being able to keep the restaurant up, so what do they want from poor little Sakura?

She walked around, and saw the photo frame of her and Hinata were together on the floor. She picked it up and placed it on her desk.

_Something precious..._

She gasped slightly at that thought? What is something precious to her? What does she value?

_Friends..._

There's Hinata, Naruto, and maybe, just MAYBE Gaara...

Her cooks too, play a big part in her life... I mean they supported and stayed with her throughout the harsh times of her life. Now, who would've done something like this?

She thought hard, and remembers the slap on her face...

_That woman!_She remembered it clearly now. It could have been her that did this, but she would've needed a lot of money to do this, this kind of damage.

**CRASH**

"Shit!"

It was a male voice. It came from the bathroom that was right next to the door. She turned slowly and saw the intruder. Sadly she couldn't see his face, which was covered behind his black mask, and it only showed his eyes.

He had a knife.

Adrenaline poured in.

"You know what I fucking want..." he said and walked closer to her.

She fully turned around and the knife was pointed at her.

He walked closer and she walked backwards. Soon she hit the wall, and she gave out a light gasp.

"C'mon, I know you fucking have it..." he said.

"I... Don't know what you're talking about..." she stated.

"The recipe! Give me the fucking recipe and everything will end nicely and clean. So cough up the recipe..." he said calmly at the end.

"What recipe?"

"The stupid fucking cake recipe! Hurry up!" he said and jabbed the knife closer to her face.

"It's in the closet, did you not see it?" she fibbed.

_She did have tons of paper in there... Maybe I missed one..._

"Show me!" and he removed the knife slowly from her face and Sakura walked forward towards the closet. The intruder then held the knife aimed for the back of her head. Sakura walked close to her closet. She was at the entrance.

"Well, here's the closet..." she said.

"Go find the formula!"

she turned around furiously and said, "In there? Are you kidding me? After YOU sabotage my closet and my PERSONAL things, you expect me to go and -" she tried to stall time and lead the intruder into a different situation but it failed when she was cut off.

"Now!" he yelled and jabbed the knife closer to her. She turned around and attempted to take a step forward towards her closet, but the intruder had a phone and it rang. He groaned as he was distracted.

He searched for his phone and -

**WHAM**

The man was hit in the face with something sturdy and hard. He twirled around and landed on his stomach as he fell to the ground. He turned his head around a bit and saw Sakura holding a hardcover book. She then hit him again with the same book on the end co fusing his vision. The man reached around for his knife but he couldn't find it near his hand. Sakura sat on him to prevent him from going anywhere and removed his mask. He had some nice features, but other than that he was not what you say handsome.

"Tell me, who sent you? An elite woman?"

"Tch! That's none of your fucking business!" he said as he struggled to get free, but man, she has him under her grip!

"Come on, tell me or else your boss will love to hear YOU struggle." she said and smiled as she held up the man's phone.

His phone rang and picture of the same elite lady was shown.

"So, it's her... I was right..." she said as the man saw the knife that's in front of his head, but she had his hands under her own hands. He shook and rocked his body. Then miraculously he sprouted up with a mighty roar and knocked Sakura off of him. He quickly grabbed the knife and held it against her, but Sakura being really fast took the hand that held knife and they struggled. It ended with him being the dominant, but Sakura wouldn't let it end this way.

She punched him in the jaw and managed to knock out three of his teeth which he spat out on the ground. He lunged at her with the knife with the intent to kill, but he missed. He then swung it any direction hoping to wound her, which he half succeeded only by tearing up her long sleeve. He smiled.

She clenched her teeth, thinking of a way to get away from him. He was desperate to have her killed. She needed to get away from him, or at least get the weapon away from him. She stepped on some torn clothes and He smiled.

"You've nowhere to go, so just tell me-" and pile of clothes were thrown at him.

She practically jumped him and ambushed. She punched him in the jawline and if it wasn't enough, she finally stopped when he cut her arm. The cut was long. From the top of her shoulder, it reached halfway towards her elbow. She got off of him, to make sure he was not dead yet.

"You know what! I'm outta here! If I had known that I'll be dealing with shit, I wouldn't be doing this!" he said. She stared dumbfounded.

Sakura's mind went white.

_Nani! You came all the way to my apartment, sabotaged my closet, ripped my clothes, put my whole apartment into a total mess, and NOW you're leaving!_

"Not so fast, mister! You ruined my apartment, how am I supposed to get all this fixed?"

"Heh, sorry about this, but as you already know, I was hired to do something like this..."

"Something like this? So you purposely destroyed my apartment? What do you mean?" she questioned.

"You'll find out soon..." he said and quickly he left.

She was left in her ruined apartment and burning anger fuming out of her. She clenched her hand and growled in annoyance.

_Why me!_

She then noticed a stinging pain on her arm and remembered she had been wounded. Searching for the lost first aid kit, she tossed clothing old, new, worn and torn around her disastrous apartment. Threw books behind her and moved the bedcovers before she finally found the kit.

She fixed herself up and looked at the horrible scenery that was at the same time breathtaking. She noticed where the man had tried to strike her on the walls. Those color peeling walls, told the story. Marks were almost everywhere, especially on the door, and the bathroom door. She looked at the cheap clock that lay broken before her and noticed that she had lost track of time and Hinata!

She closed the door, not caring to lock it anyways, I mean, she was just attacked by a hired man, what can you do after that? They're more than likely to strike back again.

She got in the car and drove off quickly.

Upon arriving, Hinata was still in the restaurant, but she shook like a little leaf. She turned her head slightly towards the door that was behind her.

"Hinata-chan! Gomenasai! I lost track of time." she said as she opened the door.

"S-Sakura-san... N-Never do t-that again..." she said.

"Don't worry, I won't." she said and smiled kindly.

Hinata noticed something. Her sleeve was torn and her arm was bandaged. There's a cut in her face, untreated and bleeding.

"S-Sakura-san, y-you... you... Y-Your face... ano..." and she quickly grabbed the shiny silver napkin dispenser.

Sakura grabbed it and looked at it. It had shown her reflection and her face. There was something on her face. It was a cut. A small one though. It was only deep enough to draw a small amount of blood. It was not something noticeable or painful of course.

"W-What happened?"

"I fell while trying to get in to my apartment." she said.

"A-And the arm?"

"Same thing..." she said and notice it was still neatly bandaged and a small amount of blood soaking through.

"B-Be careful..." she said.

"I will." she said and smiled. It must have been one of his attacks where he had his knife and had swung it all around. She shrugged it off. It was nothing but a little cut. She placed a small band aid over it. Hopefully, nobody would mind the ugliness.

"S-Sakura-san, w-where's your b-book?"

"Huh? O-Oh, yeah... Um, it was here all along. I couldn't find it at my apartment so here it is..." she said holding up the book that was in the table which she had already finished reading.

"I-Is there s-something wrong?" Hinata said noticing her lies.

"Nope, nothing"

"A-Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," she said and gave her another smile.

"Okay..." she said and dropped it.

Sakura pointed out what time it was, and Hinata gasped. She quickly thanked her and rushed out the door.

_I wonder if I should go..._

XxXxXx

Hinata parked the car near the entrance of the main house. She was greeted with nice grown flowers and her maids that bowed down in respect.

"Hime-chan, welcome back..." An elder maid said. It was her nanny, if that's what you call it. She took care of the young woman when she was a child.

Hinata stopped quickly and bowed back to her and the maids respectively before she rushed off again towards the... dojo where the challenge begins.

She found her father along with many elders. If you ask me, their dojo is... a bit unusual. Hinata, her father, and the elders are to watch the match behind the glass. This means, Naruto and Neji are in the dojo alone. Where they are standing, they are just outside the arena, peering into the thick glass where they could see them.

Inside the 'dojo', Naruto saw Hinata from the glass window. He smiled at her as he noticed her staring. She smiled back shyly behind the glass. He felt a bit insecure. He felt like as if he was isolated in a box! It gave him the creeps as he knows the audience is watching from outside the 'box'. He had to admit. He thought the dojo was small from the outside as he could see the entrance opening, but once he looked inside, it was more spacious than he had thought. He shrugged off all the uneasiness from his body and took a deep breath.

Neji, who was in front of him, exerted an aura of murderous menace. He could feel it. Naruto could feel his life start slipping away. He wore almost the same clothing as his, except more comfortable, cleaner, and it also looked a bit expensive...

_This guy..._

The referee entered finally as Neji and Naruto have stood there waiting for almost eternity. He stood equally between them and explained the rules clear and simple. Something about Neji that agitated him... Something, just something... Was it his always looking so fierce? Or was it his composure? It seemed a bit tenser... What else could it be? He couldn't read him...

The referee, as he lifted his hand, using it as a signal, to let the match begin.

At first Naruto thought that Neji stood there... In fact he was wrong. He was already thrown towards the ground with a loud thump. Neji, almost quick as lightning, immediately tried to pin him down, but he failed as Naruto quickly rolled off to the side and stood up. Was it luck or what?

As Naruto got up he quickly made a high round house kick for Neji's head and managed to smack him. Neji regain his composure again and smirked. Naruto was shocked. His kick had no effect on him... but, that's okay. Naruto quickly took him by the belt and thrust him towards the ground. He tried pinning him, but Neji kicked to the side of his stomach causing him to lose all strength in his arms.

Outside the box, the elders were already complaining. Hiashi looked on to this challenge with an expression of fierce and strong and ignored whatever the elders were complaining about.

Hinata watched as Naruto gets kicked in the side of the stomach. She winced and held on tighter on her small purse. It was not something anyone had wanted to see. She saw as he fixed himself up. She closed her eyes knowing and predicting the end results: Naruto loses.

She had gone through so much betrayal with her family. She had not even talked to them until now, unless you consider telling your personal view of the horrendous incident talking... She had Sakura as her source of courage and confidence. She needed more... She needed to find the source of confidence.

Just then, someone came in.

It was Hiashi's guards that dressed in tuxes and they were his two elite fighters. They carried a familiar pink haired person who was struggling under their grasp.

"Hiashi-sama." the first one spoke.

"We found this one trying to infiltrate the main house." the other one said.

Hinata gasped as the pink haired person lifted her face.

"S-Sakura!"

"Eh he he..." Sakura laugh and smiled a nervous smile. "Hi..."

"You may let her go." Hiashi commanded.

"Hai." and they released their grip on the woman. Sakura fell to the ground.

"S-Sakura-san, w-why are y-you here?" Hinata said as she quickly help her poor friend off the floor.

"Well, I knew that you were going to have to face your fears soon, so I thought I'd come by and give you a boost of confidence. So, I tried to climb over the big wall instead of going in the front entrance… eh he he…" she said and smiled.

Hinata jumped on Sakura, embracing her in a bear hug, whispering the words, "Arigato..."

Together, they watched Naruto's match.

Naruto fell to the floor over and over. A punch to his face, a kick in the stomach, and to end it, he released his specialty.

Hands and knees on the ground, opposite facing from Neji, he managed to cough up some of the blood that Neji vitally hit. He had release some kind of overpowering energy multiple times in one minute. He could hear him chanting out his battle cries. It was a simple math equation of x (2) = x whereas 'x' is the number and answer. He want always good in mathematics but it doesn't take a wizard to figure what x is. His body was sore, the muscles in his thighs and calves are giving out, but he forced them to stop shaking. His arms felt like noodles as they are weak and he felt like as if he's bedridden.

He got up, all beat and sweating while the other guy had nothing dirty on him. Why is he losing? He trembled as he stood still. Blood slipped from his mouth and dripped onto the nice wooden floors of the arena. He wiped it away. He had faced many opponents before, but he hasn't faced one with the ability to injure him internally.

"What happened to all that spirit? What happened to your strength?" Neji said with his arms crossed as he smirked.

"My spirit? Heh, it's still here!" he said weakly as he pointed to his heart. He huffed and smiled.

"There's something I don't understand..." Naruto said. "Why do hate her, you obviously do know that it's not her fault that your father died, but why do you still blame her?"

"You're nosy, aren't you?" Neji said.

"Heh, it's called being curious..." he countered. "So tell me... Why?"

"Why should I? It has nothing to do with you..." he said.

"It's for the benefit of Hinata..."

She heard it loud and clear...

_Please... Enough, Naruto! You don't have to pity me anymore..._

She closed her eyes for a moment and feeling the hot tears rolling alongside her cheeks, she felt great pain...

She looked away from the fight.

Sakura using her sleeve wiped the tears from her face.

"Benefit? She HAS NO benefit!" Neji said and quickly charged at him with just one palm. Naruto's body's too stiff and with Neji's combined speed, he has no escape.

**PUSH**

It was just a push, but it was enough to blow Naruto towards the wall. He was strong, he admitted, and he persevered. He placed a hand on his knee to help himself get up.

"I'm surprised that you're still standing..." he said.

_But not for long!_

He charged at Naruto, with an open palm, hitting Naruto's vitals, and he could feel his body slump against his palm. From the corner of the dojo, it was for three seconds that the referee raised his hand, about to declare victor.

**WHAM**

Neji flew back and he landed on his back. A comeback from Naruto! The referee quickly put his hand down and continued to watch. The elders were truly fascinated now. They had shut up for once and actually watched the match. The one elder man came up to Hiashi asking, "What is this match about?"

"Truth be told, I have no idea... But I believe that boy is fighting for something that he believes in..."

"And what is that?"

"The innocence of Hinata Hyuuga." he said strongly.

"What do you mean, Hiashi?" the elder man said darkly.

"I mean, that this boy is fighting for Hinata's innocence and acceptance. Don't you see!"

"..." the elder was silent for a moment. "Is this... about the kidnapping?"

"Most likely so."

The elder did nothing but scoffed at him and said, "History cannot be changed. What is done is done."

_What will you do now, Naruto Uzumaki?_

Hinata watched the match whilst listening to her father's conversation with the elder man. She heard almost every word.

She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of fighting:

"Ahhhgh!"

"Hut! Ho!"

"Hyaaa!"

She opened her eyes and witnessed the scene of Neji's nice white cloth covered with blood. Naruto spat and spurt out so much blood, it seemed he should have died. He was on the ground struggling to get up. He managed to lift his body off the ground floor, but his arms and legs struggled to fight for control. He used a great amount of force to get himself to stand again. Once he stood on the ground properly, he faced Neji again, with his sweat covered hair hanging low in front of his face. No one could read his eyes.

"I have to admit, you're the first person to ever last this long against me."

"..." Naruto didn't speak. Instead he concentrated on his energy, channeling it.

"But, why are you determined to take me down?"

"You... haven't answered my question."

"Nani?"

"Why do you blame her when you know it's not her fault?"

"Why do you want to know that badly?"

"Because it doesn't make sense!" he said quickly with fierce in his voice.

"You want to know? You want to know!" he shouted with fierce back at him.

**CLOTHES RUSTLE**

He lifted his head to see what was going on...

Everyone outside the box watched as the He revealed the long hidden secret of the Hyuuga clan...

A burn mark.

A simple burn mark engraved on his back. Only it was simple. It was a giant mark of a MANJI.

The image struck Naruto.

"Stop this match! I say stop this match!" the elders yelled. Hiashi quickly cut hem all off with a wave of his hand.

"We will watch the rest of this match, undisturbed."

"I refuse! He let out the Hyuuga clan's biggest secret to society!" an elder woman said.

"Look where we are at. We are at the Hyuuga dojo, in the Hyuuga main house."

"He just showed it to an outsider! He must have finally gone insane!"

"Just watch." Hiashi simply said.

Back inside the box, Naruto stared at it with eyes that shook from left to right.

_He was suffering PHYSICALLY and EMOTIONALLY..._

"What... What is that?" he managed to say.

"A wretched curse."

"Curse?"

"..."

"Explain."

"There was something that both Hinata and Hiashi left out in their version of the story. It was before Hinata was kidnapped that i was burned like this... and so was my father."

"What? Why?"

"Because..." he looked off to the side of the dojo not facing Naruto anymore. "It was tradition."

Naruto felt enraged. First they leave Hinata alone to suffer consequences she never really deserved, then they never accepted her back in to the family main branch, separated themselves between upper class and lower class, elders ruling OVER the head of the family, and now you're telling him that they BURN people for the sake of TRADITION? No way in hell.

"Fuck that! Traditions changed! They shouldn't have done that!"

"Oh, but they did. They burned a manji on my father and me as our curse mark. They did it so they could gain absolute control..."

"Absolute control over what? The whole family branch?" he exclaimed his question.

"That was the idea." he replied back.

There was something still missing in this jigsaw puzzle.

"What does it do?"

"It lets them control me."

"How?"

"With just a button, they can activate the curse, making me vulnerable, and them all powerful.

"Wait, I don't get it. How could just pressing one button grant them power over you?"

"The procedure is quite gory and unpleasant. They begin by cutting a few layers of skin. Then they add microscopic chips that could activate through a wireless controller. They then seal up the skin. So every time they press that wretched button, I am surrounded by a burning sensation through my nerves."

"So they didn't really burn you?"

"No. It's only the electric shock that burns through the skin."

Back outside, Sakura noticed how deep the burn in Neji's broad back showed.

_They probably pressed the button so many times, that he probably doesn't feel any pain any more... It's so deep. The scar will never fade._

Her eyes twinkled darkly as she saw it. Hinata shied away. She didn't want to be questioned because she knew all too well about this. _Let Neji explain it.  
><em>  
>Naruto was speechless. He didn't know what to say after hearing that he had received surgery to be implanted with microchips at a young age. It's not fair for a child that young to be treated like trash. It's horrible. But wait!<p>

Something in his mind clicked with another question.

"If you're being controlled by the higher ups, then shouldn't Hinata's father also have a burn mark?"

"No, because he is the head of the family."

"But isn't he controlled by the Elders?"

"That is true, but even I have no idea why. I do know this though, they are strong leaders, and can gather many followers in three days."

"Followers for what?"

"Anything. Rebellion, war, anything."

"I see."

_So these Elders are THAT strong. No wonder they can't have freedom. Wait. This whole thing was supposed to be about Hinata... How did it lead to... this?_'

Things never make sense. First, you're talking about something and then the topic goes astray and loses its meaning which becomes a bigger problem.

"Can't you secretly undergo surgery to have that remove?"

"No, the Elders have connections. I am a bird in a cage, and they are the watchers. The only way to escape is death."

"You will be free. One day, you will be."

"How! It's impossible! I was fated to be a servant since I was born!"

"Then I'll make it possible! One day, I'll change the miserable future for people into a bright one!" he screamed.

"What do you know about me? What do you know about my suffering! What do you know about this cage, that I'm imprisoned in!"

He charged at Naruto with a hand ready to rupture his heart. Naruto knew where he was aiming at so luckily, he moved slightly enough for the hand to his miss his heart, but... he fell unconscious.

_This is it... Naruto-kun, arigato. Even though you did your best, it's my fault. I got you caught up in this mess..._

"Do you understand now? You had no way of beating me!"

The referee walks towards them.

_Arigato, Naruto… Even though you tried to help me, I failed to support you back… I'm sorry. I'm sorry… I'm sorry…_

Just as she finished saying that, Sakura's voice spoke out to her in her mind…

_Believe in Naruto. I don't know what has happened, but believe in him…_

Her mind stopped operating for just a short second. She looked at Sakura who was in utter shock, and wouldn't accept the truth…

"Come on, Naruto…" she said through her clenched teeth.

_That's right! If Sakura could support Naruto like that, then I should be able too!_

She smacked her face with her own hands waking herself and changing herself to view the current situation into a brighter one.

_Naruto-kun, you HAVE to win! You have to win! YOU HAVE TO WIN!_

Naruto's mind began slowing everything down and he was talking to himself in his mind rapidly…

_I can't lose. Not now. Hinata-chan needs me… _

_I have to become stronger. But… my body is at its limit…_

_I need more strength..._

As he thought of it, a voice answered back.

_Do you... Want to borrow my power?_

_How strong are you?_

The voice chuckled. _Let's find out..._

Hinata, outside closed her eyes as she believed that Naruto would hop up from the floor any moment. Sakura, thinking deeply, wished she could smack him wide awake to remind him that he's fighting against Neji for Hinata's sake. No way would he easily quit. She remembered having conversations with him in Hinata's room, when she refused to do some Chinese cupping.

**[Flash Back]**

"Hey, Naruto..."

The room was blindly black except for the night light that Hinata had in her room. It gave the room a nice warm glow in the dark winter night.

"Hm?"

"Do you have a goal in the future?"

"A goal?"

"Yeah, like becoming the best counselor or therapist in the world."

"Actually, i do, but it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"Someday, I believe I will be able change the miserable future to a brighter one for people."

"How are you going to do that?"

"I really don't know, ha ha… But, I won't give up. It's a dream that I really want to see come true, because everyone deserves a happy ending, especially Hinata-chan." he said and scratched the back of his head.

_As expected..._

"Sakura, what kind of past did you lead? I'm getting the feeling that you had a bad one..."

"Well, it's semi-bad."

"Could you tell me?"

"Well... It's just that I liked this guy since childhood, but he moved away when I was five. Five years ago, I re-acquainted with him. Apparently he was, and probably still is, the CEO of his company. He mainly had many hospitals and pharmacy under his company power. Even the hospital I worked at was under his command. He was strong, and I fell in love with him, not because of his looks and power, but because of his faults. He felt the same way, and I was happy, but…"

"But…?"

"He became greedy..."

"Greedy? What do you mean?"

"Well, I can't explain too much… But he kept asking me and the hospital where I worked at, along with my shishou, to make a special drug, and he involved himself with a cruel and unusual organization."

"Special drug?"

"Yes, I won't explain any further than this, because it's top secret."

Naruto simply nodded his head.

"So, he became greedy. He even hired another woman who brought in the one and only illegal drug. It was obvious that that woman liked him, and it was like he was about to dump me, but I couldn't let that happen. So, I dumped him and opened up a restaurant to restart my life." She told him with a smile at the end.

"Hm… Sakura, you'll find happiness. Don't worry, I promise."

She laughed lightly and softly. "You promise?"

"Yup! I give you my promise of a lifetime, Sakura. You'll find happiness, I know you will!" he said cheerfully.

She smiled back at him.

**[Flash back end]**

"HAA…!"

Hinata quickly lifted her head, and Sakura had a small smile on her face.

Faintly, a red fiery aura surrounded Naruto. He looked stronger and fiercer. His whisker marks were bolder and more appealing. His blonde hair was striking.

Naruto felt charged up. He couldn't feel any pain from Neji's previous attacks, and those internal wounds have gone numb.

Neji's mind went blank.

_How? Why is he so persistent? Why is he still standing? He shouldn't be able to stand, let alone be conscious. No matter. I'll finish him off once and for all!_

Neji jumped on Naruto and began doing his specialty.

"Four!"

"Sixteen!"

"Thirty-two!"

It was rapid, just like before. No, it was not like before. It was faster this time. His graceful movements of the Hyuuga clan turned into something forceful. Naruto took the blows. The voice in his head gave him power. Power that aided him through this crisis, and helped him regained conscious. It was because of this power that Naruto was able to see everything in slow motion.

Just as Neji was about to begin his sixty fourth move, Naruto's mind slowed down Neji's movements, and being quick as a fox (A/N: Ha ha ha! Quick as a fox. Get it?), Naruto stopped Neji's attack by grabbing on to his attacking fingers.

Everything seemed to have gone really fast under a second. Through Hinata's eyes, it was evidently clear that Naruto grabbed on to Neji's fingers and pulled him towards himself and with the other hand open, he was able to landing a fist in the pit of his stomach. While trying to comprehend what happened, Neji, used his free hand and landed a blow to Naruto's jaw. Therefore, Naruto lets go Neji's attacking fingers.

"Then, I'll be the one to pick the lock and open the cage door for you, so you can fly free!" Naruto shouted to the question Neji had asked a while ago.

From shock, Neji stood there. But his demeanor changed and he scowled. "Why? Why do you want to change my future!" and stormed at him with an open palm. But Naruto stood there calm and proud.

Neji was only two meters away from him, but he saw something from Naruto's aura. It was menacing and heavy. He saw a glint of a monster emerging from him. It almost made his body stop moving, but of course, he kept on going.

Naruto, with a fist full of extruding power, landed a hit on Neji, followed up by a high roundhouse kick towards the head, continued on by a low roundhouse kick towards the leg. Neji forced himself to get off the ground. When he was standing properly, it didn't take long before Naruto kneed him in the gut, which he fell clutching his stomach. With full power unleashed. Naruto packed several punches into Neji, with each one coming from his heart. Each punch gave off a different feeling. It was five seconds into the rapid blows that the last one that Naruto gave him, was the feeling of freedom.

The force of impact was so strong, that Neji flew to the opposite side of the arena. His body hit against the wall before he fell unconscious against the floor.

The referee walked towards Neji…

"The winner of this match goes to… Naruto Uzumaki, the counselor!"

To Hinata's and Sakura's surprise, the elders were actually cheering… Quite an odd situation they encountered. But this gave more joy to the girls. Hiashi was satisfied with the results as well.

Everyone began to leave and Naruto helped the Neji who regained consciousness.

"I was a failure once, and I still am, and look at me. I changed destiny! You thought that it was fated that I would lose right? But look at us! Neji, you are a genius. If a failure could only change destiny and fate, then think what a genius could do. I promise you'll be free from the cage." He said, before Neji was carried out on a stretcher. Sakura and Hinata came rushing in.

"Naruto, that was amazing!"

"Ah, it was nothing, Sakura…" he said. The power that the voice gave him was still in effect. He calmed himself down and suppressed that energy.

Hinata shyly came up to him with a smile and said, "Y-You did it, N-Naruto-kun…"

The smile on Naruto's face disappeared.

Her smile faded as well.

"N-Naruto-kun?" She was scared now. _Why did Naruto lose his smile?_

"Hina-chan…" Naruto said as he walked up to her. Her head was just below his chin.

"Hina-chan," he began. "You doubted me, didn't you…"

Her heart raced and fear poured into her.

"I-I… y-yes…"

There was a slight pause…

"You should believe in me more. Believing is succeeding." He said and the next thing he did, surprised most people around them.

Upon feeling a hand lifting her chin, and something soft on her lips, Hinata was in utter shock. Her first kiss was taken by Naruto. Sakura put a hand in front of her mouth, surprised. Hiashi just lifted an eyebrow, and other people who were there just stared dumbfounded.

"You know what Hina-chan? I'm tired… really tired…" he said and fell upon her.

"N-Naruto-kun!" and with just a shout, Sakura was there on the double to check things out. Using her eyes and medical intuitions, she noted that Naruto just need to rest. He tired his body out. But she suggested that they let him rest in a hospital. With a sigh of relief Hinata, along with Sakura carried him towards the parked car waiting at the front entrance. Hiashi stared at the whole scene.

"Hiashi-sama." An elderly voice spoke.

He turned his head slightly and saw who it was.

Hinata's nanny.

"She's grown up, hasn't she?" she asked.

"Yes, but she still needs to open her eyes to view the world more seriously." He said.

"What do you mean? Can't you see her eyes? Look at them? She opened those pair of silver balls a long time ago. You need to open yours." She taunted.

"What? Impossible." He said in disbelief.

"But it's true. Look at the young lady now."

As Hiashi concentrated on seeing Hinata, more as a grown up daughter, he realized the nanny was right.

"Kimiko-san, even your eyes are better than mine." He said shaking his head.

"They always have been, you just need to improve your eye sight." She taunted with a smile.

Hiashi smiled back, thinking up ways to mend broken bonds and having a talk with the Elders.

_Counselor Naruto Uzumaki, you have done what no one else could have done._ _Arigato_

XxXxXx

Hiashi walked towards Neji's room where he is currently resting.

"Neji-kun (I'm not sure if men call boys –kun…)?" and he entered to check on him.

Neji sat up straight from his futon.

"Yes, Hiashi-sama…"

"I want to tell you something about your father…"

"Nani?"

"I had already planned on giving myself up for execution back then." He said as he kneeled on the ground.

"It was your father that suggested that we switch places. I did not want him to, but the Elders pushed us on. There was nothing that I could do. Like you, I am bounded in a cage…"

"At least you don't have this wretched body filled with microchips…"

"That's true, even I thought of abandoning the idea, but the Elders persist. You know how cruel the Elders can be…" he said…

"Yes…"

"Your father also left his will. He told me to not give it to you until the right moment. I believe it is the right moment right now." He said and gave him a letter.

He exited his room to let Neji read it alone.

It was his father's handwriting. He knew because Hiashi's and his father have similar handwriting styles but only something was different in his father's…

He read it about three times… each time bringing tears to his eyes.

_Father…_

He calmed himself down and decided to sleep. He needed his rest... but before he did that, he said something to himself… about a certain someone.

_Naruto, arigato, you saved me from the darkness._

* * *

><p><strong>So... <strong>

**Excuse: School and finals.**

**I hope this chapter explains things pretty much better than last chapter with all those typos and errors. ^_^**

**Also I'm not sure if this is what every one wanted... (i truly think it's not considering how many people wanted Neji to die...)**

**If Hinata was a bit OOC, i apologize.**

**Music that helped me create this chapter and the ones before:**

**Kana Nishino:**

**If**

**Aitakute Aitakute**

**Best Friends**

**Beautiful**

**Tokutemo**

**Esperanza**

**Alright**

**I'll be there**

**7!:**

**Lovers**

**It's best to listen to these songs while reading this whole story with it. So, start building a playlist or something (even though you don't have to)  
><strong>

_**Anyway, Review and I'll write you a lemon.**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

><p>It had been about a month since Naruto had gone into recovery at a local hospital that the Hyuuga's had provided. It was concluded that he would be in a coma due to the stress that he had pushed his body to do. It tore her heart thinking she would relive the past once again. Thankfully, Sakura was there, so the damage that was about to occur, never existed. Instead, every week, Hinata visited him and offered fresh flowers along with Sakura. Surprisingly, even Gaara had visited him. It was a surprise, to one day open the doors of the hospital doors that led to Naruto's resting area and see a man with blood red hair standing and watching him sleep. Smiles and a stoic face was exchanged.<p>

Though, even after Naruto had triggered a major event in the Hyuuga society, it was decided that Naruto can't be stepped outside the Hyuuga territories and Hinata and Sakura were placed under house arrest at the residence area. If not for the mysterious panda man who barged into the Hyuuga main house with lawyers that each held a briefcase in each hand, the girls wouldn't have gotten out of the compound at all! With hours and hours of debating, testifying, and concluding that the secret can be kept through numerous rounds of battle with the elders, they've concluded: Naruto and Sakura were safe to leave. Hinata, however, remains in the house. When they ask why, the elders had simply replied: "She's fit to be the heir after all! After talking to everyone in private quarters, we've concluded that Hinata-chan just needs some practice and confidence!"

Sakura had twitched upon hearing the last line. _You _now _just realized that!?_

When they had asked how Gaara knew where they were, and why he helped, the only reply they received was "None of your business."

It was mid-January. The freezing wind blew across the soft cheeks of Hinata Hyuuga. She smiled with the brightest smile, while running across the not-so busy streets of Konoha reaching for the destination that she awaits to see.

Barging in through the familiar doors of the well-known cafe, Hinata spotted her favorite pink person. "Sakura! Sakura! Sakura-chan! I passed! I'm the heiress now!" she shouted as she tackled her well known friend for a hug.

Together the girls screamed in the silent cafe. The cooks with cooking utensils ready in hand came out of their hiding place due to the screams. Seeing that there was no harm done they retreated.

"Tch, I wanted to hit someone with this..." Satoshi whined and took the wok off his head.

"Well, I wanted to cut some limbs." Fey said holding up the knives he had in his hands to demonstrate.

"Aww, I can't hurt anyone with this."

"Sure you can."

"How?"

"Like this..."

Fey had took the wok from his hands and whacked him on the head. A comedic lump formed on his head.

"Oww!" he exclaimed with an accent and the two cooks bickered among each other.

"Sakura-chan! I'm going to go visit Naruto-kun. Do you want to come?"

"Yeah, sure!" Sakura said happily.

As she strode down the hall of the hospital with daffodils in her arms, she opened the doors. With great joy and tears, she dropped the bouquet when she saw what was in front of her and ran as hard as she could.

"Hinata-chan... Ohaiyo."

In the arms of her beloved Naruto, Hinata cried an endless amount of tears.

"N-Naruto-kun, y-you're awake." she sobbed out as she loosen the embrace.

"Mm, yeah." he said as he wiped a tear away from her face.

"It's so good to see you again, Hina-chan..." he said and covered her lips with his own.

"It's so good to see you." he said again.

**February**

Snow had fallen on the ground again. The winter air was dry and the wind blew across all over the city of Konoha. Sakura walked towards the desired destination, though it was eerily quiet. No bustling cars. While walking, she found something very peculiar as she saw a trail of red polka dotted spots that were on the road where she was walking. Nonetheless, she ignored it.

Though, when she reached there, the most horrifying scene had revealed itself. Her eyes were widened and enlarged. Her hands covered her mouth. Her pulse was rapid and adrenaline poured over her. Right in front of her, in front of the main door, was Gaara in a fetal position. A massive gunshot wound was open and a massive amount of blood was spilling, though it looked as if the wound was made not too long ago. He was wearing a white tux, which was quite was already soaked with blood, but it seemed… dirty. She spotted dirt smudges here and there.

Quickly she tried lifting the poor unconscious man's head and rapidly tapped him on his cheek which were scratched and bruised. In fact, it looked like he was in a big rumble.

"Gaara!? Gaara!? Gaara-kun!?"

_What happened to you?_

Where are the police nowadays? No answer, but she did hear a slight groan. He was still somewhat conscious it seemed. She quickly opened the front door of the cafe with care since Gaara was lying in front of it. Quickly, she tried to carry him, and surprisingly he was very lightweight.

_He must have not been eating properly._

She carried him through the thick doors and laid him on the cold restaurant floors. Her shirt was already stained with blood. She needed a way to save him.

_Hospital! I need to call the ambulance!_

She reached for the phone that was placed on the counter, but something in her mind told her to stop. It was the voice from her long lost past.

**You don't wanna call the ambulance! Your restaurant will never get popular at all that way! Think of the customers!**

_But there is a slight chance of getting the restaurant popular, by TV... Or so I hope..._

**Baka (idiot), baka, baka, look at him! Expensive suits that he constantly wears, lawyers with briefcases, and constantly big tips, what does that tell ya!?**

She took a moment and went down memory lane.

_Holy! He could be famous!? How could I have not known that!?_

**Told you, you were a baka...**

She quickly slammed the phone back down.

_Wait..._

She picked up the phone, once again and dialed a number. It got her through.

"Hina-chan! Let me borrow your car for today!"

"Eh!? Sakura-chan? Ano... Are you alright?"

"Yes, sorry... Hina-chan, please listen carefully."

"Yes, what is it?"

"It's about Gaara. He's hurt. I need to borrow your car so I can take him to my apartment."

"Eh? What happened?" Hinata said with worry.

"I'll explain later. He's unconscious right now."

"I-I see..." She said, "What about the hospital? Shouldn't you take him there?"

"I thought about that, but then I realized he's... rich and probably famous. It's going to attract a lot of unwanted attention."

"Oh, I see." Hinata said, "I-I'll be here soon,"

"Ah, arigatogozaimatsa!"

As Hinata drove to a stop at the main entrance, she left her car running, and Sakura had burst out of the front doors.

"Hina-chan!" she shouted with worry on her face.

"S-Sakura-chan, how is he?"

"Hina-chan, he's holding up for now. Everything's gonna be alright, so it's ok." she said as she smiled to her. "I have a little surprise for you later."

"Eh? What is it?"

"It's a surprise I can't tell you!" Sakura said as she laughed.

"O-Okay..." and she headed off to work across the street.

As Hinata's figure disappeared, Sakura made a mad dash back into the cafe. Lifting him up, trying not to make the wound as worse as it is already, Sakura placed him inside the car and drove off and she hopes the cooks doesn't think much of the crime scene. His face was getting pale and his body began to shake unconsciously. She stepped on the gas pedal exceeding the speed limit. The only place where he and the restaurant could be safe: her apartment.

She continued to drive and not long, police sirens were heard.

_Noo!_She screamed in her mind and quickly took action. She took off the coat she had on and threw it on him, covering the spot and tied a scarf around her neck to try and cover the blood stain on her shirt.

The officer approached the car.

She rolled down the window.

"Mam, you were speeding. Is there something wrong?"

"Well, you see my friend here in the back was working late night, and caught pneumonia. You know how bad pneumonia can be nowadays."

"Yes, I see. But aren't you cold? It's winter still."

"Nah, I'm alright, he needs it more than me."

"I see, well, I'll just let you off with a warning this time."

Sakura waved goodbye while she rolled up the windows and drove off again.

The apartment was not too far away. She was almost there, though she heard him cough a bit.

**CHAAA! HURRY UP! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? SAVE THE POOR MAN!**

_WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING!?_

Her eyes gleam a comedic gleam, sparkling with terror.

With great speed, she sped past other cars! Who knew what kind of driving power she had!

**THERE YOU GO, GIRL!**

_SHADDUP!_

Once she made it, she carried him in and thank god for the pile of ripped clothing. It was piled massively over the bed and she slowly and carefully placed him there.

She dug through her room and finally found the special kit that she used back in her hospital days. She opened it, re-sterilized the instruments with rubbing alcohol (I'm not even sure if rubbing alcohol could do that), and lit a candle. She ripped his nice tux and began to operate.

XxXxXx

Hinata finished her massive pile of paperwork in her new office. She headed towards the cafe since she was excited to see what Sakura had in store for her. She also wondered about that red haired man. How did he get hurt? What happened? What has Sakura done? She pushed the questions away. She took her time packing up some of her stuff before heading out. Today was going to be very interesting.

She entered the cafe and there she was. Sakura-chan had everything laid out. She quickly took her seat.

"Sakura-chan, what's this?" she questioned.

"It's just a little present from me. You and Naruto can spend it!" she said.

"Eh? For both of us?"

"Yep!"

She looked at the given gifts. She looked at them and realized that they were two tickets to a very popular movie that's currently going on. Sakura had won them from a small contest that no one knew existed.

"Arigato, Sakura!" Hinata said and smiled gently.

She saw that her favorite lunch time meal was already made. Hinata was confused, but decided to drop it. They chatted for quite a while Hinata ate her meal happily. By the time she finished, two hours had gone by! She quickly said her goodbyes and left. Sakura waited for her friend to leave, even though she was shaking like a feather under the strong winds. She needed to check up on Gaara, though her chefs stopped her.

"Sakura-senpai, you are one scary person! You brought in some cow and managed to cut it up! Look at how big this is!" Satoshi exclaimed seeing the massive bloody stain on the tiled floor. Sakura recalled when she was waiting for the beautiful, gigantic piece of cow came in last night.

_Well, i guess that's a perfect excuse._

"Next time, leave it to us to do it, so the mess isn't so messy to clean up," Fey said.

"Ah haha-ha" she laughed nervously. "Well, I'll be on my way!" and she ran towards the borrowed car.

XxXxXx

Hinata went back to her office feeling stuffed. She continued to deal with her clients and offering her great Hyuuga services. Her staff was greatly surprised with her new and improved ability. They were shocked when they heard her speak without any stuttering. They were beyond overjoyed when they heard she had become heir for the prestigious Hyuuga Corps like they knew she would.

Hinata answered phone calls and was feeling great about her own self. Though, there's always that hint of shyness in her.

A man wearing a nice tux had just walked in with a photo of the Hyuuga heiress. He had his henchmen following him and guarding him. He placed it in his inside pockets and pushed the button to call for the elevator.

Hinata rushed to different parts of the building within her floor. She quickly loaded up paper for the copy machine. Once she got it to work, she ran to get some coffee since the line, for once, wasn't as busy as normally. She dashed with her newly brewed coffee in one hand and a stack of paper in the other.

It came together really quickly. The man from the elevator and Hinata collided against each other. Papers flew everywhere and her coffee was spilled upon his tux. His men tried to help him get up, but he waved a hand and halted their process.

Quickly, she blotted the spill with a nearby tissue. Though, he quickly stopped her.

"I've been waiting for you."

She looked up to take a closer perspective of the man. It was someone she didn't recognize at all.

"Ano... Who are you?"

He chuckled slightly, "I don't blame you for not remembering. It's been too long since we've been separated."

He leaned close to her, close to her face, closer... closer... closer… until they were just a centimeter away.

She was slightly frightened. The anticipation of what's going to happen.

"Ano... Who are you?" a familiar voice had spoken. Hinata looked behind the man in front of her and saw dear, Naruto and smiled a bit.

She was relieved he came in time. He stopped him from getting any closer and especially, she noticed Naruto's hand was on the mysterious man's suit, halting him.

"I apologize. My name is Ryuu. That's all you need to know."

"Okay, _Ryuu_, what are you doing?"

"Oh, I just bumped into her and accidentally had coffee spilt on my suit."

"I see..."

"Well, I'll be on my way. Hinata-chan, we'll meet again." and with that, he took his leave.

"Hina-chan, who was he?" Naruto asked.

"I-I don't know..." she replied.

Naruto brushed off the situation since today was a going to be a fabulous day... or at least tonight will be. Hinata quickly showed him two tickets to a movie that Sakura had given her. Her face was as red as a tomato and her head was hung low trying to hide her face. He quickly agreed and gave her a small peck on her cheek, waved goodbye and told her a specific time when he would be at the movie theaters.

After he left, she couldn't help but smile joyously that she had proposed the first date! She quickly began to work and tried to get things done quicker. Her face was blushing the whole time while she was working.

By the time she was finished doing her work, she had an hour before the specified meeting time. She quickly left her office building and headed for her car, hoping that Sakura had her car keys. She strode down the road towards the cafe and saw her parked car. Now, she just needs her set of keys.

She walked in the cafe and Sakura was there. She turned he head towards the direction of the door and smiled.

"Already planned on going?"

"Hai!"

"Well, I assume you would need these," she said and jingled the keys.

"Arigatōgozaimashita," Hinata said.

"Have fun!"

"I will!"

Sakura giggled and waved goodbye.

While driving, Hinata smelled something like chlorine and a mixture of other chemicals followed by a sweet smell of vanilla. Though, she shrugged it off and continued on.

It was time and Naruto was already waiting for Hinata to come. He didn't have to wait long for her to come. She stepped out of her parked car and slightly ran towards him.

"G-Gomen! I h-hope you didn't wait long!" she said.

"It's alright, no need to get shy over it, Hina-chan." He said.

"Shall we go in now?" he asked. He nodded and grabbed her hand and guided her through the mass of people waiting to see the new movie, Shadow lands.

XxXxXx

_It's about time._

"Alright, guys, it's closing time!" Sakura yelled to the kitchen.

"Hai!" Satoshi yelled.

It didn't take long, in less than ten minutes Sakura was locking the doors. Satoshi and Fey had gone on ahead.

Sakura had been very suspicious.

_Delectable Matsuri... What have you been up to lately?_

She was a bit ticked off. She had been dealing a lot of useless crap lately. Stolen recipes, threat letters, a slap across the face, a destroyed apartment, and now Gaara. What is going on?

She walked through the salted grounds, and before she knows it, she has arrived. She pushed open the doors and was immediately welcomed with booming customers chattering. She can smell the heavy alcohol in the air.

"Everyone, I made a new recipe!" A girl said, who seemed to be the 'Matsuri', and disappeared into the kitchen.

_So it's her..._

"WHOOO!"

"YEAHHH!"

The customers cheered with fists in the air.

"Matsuri-san is the best!" Some of them said.

Sakura walked up to the counter and ordered a strawberry vanilla cream cake for to-go.

She paid in cash about ten dollars. That was everything in her wallet. She waited for about ten minutes before it was done. As she sat down and waited, some lecherous men came up to her.

"Hey there, pretty."

"Hey, yourself." She said back.

The man laughed and so did the others around him.

"Look, would $100 do it for tonight?" He asked with a smile. He was reeking of alcohol and so did the others.

"I'm not an object, leave me alone."

The men laughed out loudly.

"We didn't say you we're an object! Now give me a kiss!" He said and leaned in really quickly. She was fuming with anger. She raised her fist and punched him the face, before his lips reached near hers, which knocked out his two front teeth.

**This place is disgusting!**

_Tell me about it._

A man called out her order number. She got up from her spot and everything around her was kind of... destroyed. The lecherous men around her were all on the floor sprawled out in pain with huge comedic lumps on their head. Paintings were knocked off to the side and vases were broken.

"Thank you." She said to the man. The man looked at her with a surprised expression. Everyone in the restaurant stared at her... at her monstrous strength.

Just as she opened the exit door she turned around and yelled, "THIS IS THE MOST DISGUSTING PLACE I'VE EVER SEEN!" before she stormed out.

XxXxXx

Hinata and Naruto, while watching the movie, heard a weird sound followed by a moan. Hinata began to look for the sound. Slightly being turned on by it, Naruto knew where it was coming from. It was from the couple to the right of him. Hinata sat on the other side. He was blocking them from Hinata hoping the couple's scene won't turn out to be... well a sex-in-the-theaters scene.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Hm?"

"What's that noise?"

"Don't worry about it." He said as he was getting aroused by those sounds.

XxXxXx

Sakura took the cab home. As the cabbie stopped, she realized that she had run out of money in her wallet. She searched her pockets thoroughly and found a fifty dollar bill.

The cabbie man was quite surprised but he gave her back the change.

"Here you go mam"

"Thank you."

"Have a good night."

"You too." He said and he drove off to the dangerous night.

She walked towards her apartment and unlocked the door. The man lying on her bed (which the bed still has a ton of her ripped up clothing), was still sleeping soundly. She quickly checked up on his wound. _It's healing slowly._

She remembered the operation from earlier today. The bullet was intentionally supposed to hit his heart, but it could be that he dodged or the suspect had missed, since the bullet hit his rib and pierced into the lung. She had removed the bullet and placed it in a small plastic case she had lying around. Not to mention he had a broken arm which she can easily fix, but what happened to him? Surely, he was attacked, but then again, why wouldn't he have any protection? A few body guards would be nice.

_What happened to you?_

Sakura sat down on the pile of clothes and opened the box that contained the cake. She cut out a slice using the plastic knife. She took a bite.

_This is way too sweet..._

**NOT TO MENTION, IT WAS OUR RECIPE,CHAA!**

_Oh, quiet you..._

She heard a slight groan from Gaara. She quickly checked up on him.

"Gaara! Gaara-kun!"

He didn't wake up. He fell back asleep seeing his chest rising and falling slowly. She placed the stethoscope in her ears and listened to his heart beating. She let out a sigh of relief.

_Well, he seems to be alright.  
><em>  
>She picked up the box and threw away the cake. <em>Ten dollars wasn't even worth it<em>.

She then walked to her bathroom and turned on the available hot water. She stepped inside and drowned away her stresses.

XxXxXx

_They're really getting it on..._and that; Naruto meant the couple not the movie. The movie was great and all, but the couple next to him was really turning him on. First it was a make-out session, followed by moaning and groaning. Then he turned his head slowly enough to see them getting ready to strip down. His down there... was sticking out.

_Good thing movie theaters are dark..._

He was flustered. He looked over to Hinata. She was having a hard time concentrating on the movie. She looked around again for the source of that... weird noise.

"N-Naruto-kun...?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"What is that noise?"

"J-Just some people making out."

She remained silent and continued to watch the movie with much agitation.

They were only an hour and a half into the movie. Another hour of torture to go!

XxXxXx

The door opened and steam flushed out of the room. Sakura was wearing her sleeping clothes which consisted of a long sleeve with pink and green colors and a strawberry for a picture on the front, and pink satin pants. Oh the comfort-ness!

She checked on Gaara again. He was still fast asleep, Though she noticed something very peculiar about him. He has really, really bad sleep deprived eyes. Before she knew it, she placed a hand on his face. _So... soft_. With her thumb, she rubbed his eye gently.

"'Kaa-san... (Mother/mom)"

_Okaa-san?_

She went to the kitchen which was basically on the other wall and began to cook something edible for Gaara if he wakes tonight.

In his sleep, Gaara, murmured the words, "Stay..."

XxXxXx

_I... Can't... Take... This... Anymore_…

"H-Hinata?"

"Nani?"

"I-I need to use the restroom. I'll be back."

"O-Okay,"

He got up quickly and a trail of "excuse me" and "sorry" was heard. As he left, Hinata found the source of that... weird noise. She gasped quietly and her face was flustered. She continued to 'enjoy' the movie, but really she's just sitting there shell-shocked.

In the men's bathroom...

Naruto let out a sigh of relief.

_Though I wouldn't make it. Those couples were... really getting it on._

He blushed at the thought. He zipped up his pants, washed his hands and went back to the theaters.

Hinata, who was still shell-shocked was still 'enjoying' the movie. A round of "excuse me" and "sorry" were heard.

"Oi, Hina-chan, I'm back" Naruto said.

"A-Ano... N-Naruto-kun, I'm going to the bathroom."

"Oh, okay." He said and another round of "excuse me" and "sorry" were heard. As she left, Naruto saw what was in front of him as he stood still, standing there.

"Oi, down in front!" A man yelled. Naruto took his seat and put his head in his hands.

_Oh kami (god)... I let her... See that..._

He buried his face further in his hands. He let innocent little Hinata see something like that! Oh he feels responsible. A moan came from a woman. Naruto checked the time on his cell phone. It was almost eleven-thirty.

In the women's bathroom...

Hinata just finished her business. As she was washing her hands, she overheard the other women talking.

"Oh my god, why is there a man outside the women's bathroom!?"

"I don't know! What if he's a rapist?" Another said and the group of girls worried over it.

Hinata walked over and opened the door a crack and saw the blond hair and noticed the trench coat. She quickly recognizes who it was. It was her dear Naruto-kun, of course!

She quickly walked out and met up with him.

"Naruto-kun, what are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you to get out."

"O-Oh, but um... Y-You were scaring the other girls."

"Oh. My bad," He said, looking away a d scratching the back of his head. "Let's go."

"Where to?" Hinata said surprised.

"Anywhere but here."

"Okay." She said.

_S-So Naruto-kun was seeing that the whole time…_She flushed at her own thought.

XxXxXx

Sakura was done cooking. She made congee and wanted to start making winter melon soup but she was a bit tired and decided not to.

She sat down on the clothes-filled floor to take a break. Her long hair was down (not the shoulder length, but when she had her long hair), so she put it back up in a bun. She noticed the room was not as cold as she expected. Her heater broke down a month ago, and she still needs money to fix it. Though, where is the warm air coming from?

She searched around for the source of warm air. She noticed a small crack in the ceiling. It was connected to the apartment above hers. Apparently it was leaking all the warm air into her room making it nice and cozy.

_I can get used to this…_

She heard a groan coming from him and she quickly turned around. _He's waking up!  
><em>  
>Gaara squirmed around before he shot open his eyes. He jolted right up, but pain overcame him.<p>

"Ugh!" he yelled out and fell back down.

"Don't move so fast! You're still in deep condition!" She said and she pulled up a pillow under him, fluffed it a bit and put it in a standing position so he can sit up.

He relaxed his breathing and calmed down.

Sakura knelt down to his level and asked with worry, "Are you hungry?"

Gaara simply nodded his head. She got up and went to get the congee she had made earlier. Gaara took a minute to remember what had happened, but it wasn't coming out. He looked at his surroundings.

_Clothes everywhere... Ripped, torn, and scattered with paper. Photos knocked down, a gash on the wall... What... happened here?_

His breathing was short, but he tried to take in a deep breath and choked. Though, he could smell the sweet scent of the room. To him it smelled like vanilla and strawberry mix. Maybe that was her scent.

Sakura came back with congee and a spoon. She stirred it a bit.

"I can feed myself." He said quickly before she started.

"No, you can't. You have a broken arm." She countered.

He then looked at his arm. It was in a cast.

_Oh..._

She scooped a small bit and began to feed him. To Gaara, it was the most awkward position he's been put on. To have someone feed him! He's Sabaku no Gaara for crying out loud! Gaara has never had anyone feed him. He never did in the past, and surely not now. He was actually embarrassed. He has shown how weak he is, but for some reason he didn't detest it. After a few more scoops, he had gotten used to it. He had begun to like this warm feeling he's beginning to develop. Usually he would hate it around his older brother and sister, but being around this woman made him continued to feed him, smiling as she notices that he's not being fussy like a kid anymore.

XxXxXx

"Naruto-kun, where are we going?"

"I'm thinking about going to your place and just hang out." He said.

"Oh, ok."

They were in Hinata's car. Naruto was driving since he wanted to feel what it was like. Hinata had easily agreed. They were relaxed now that they didn't have to endure what was happening at the theaters.

They arrived at their destination. They got out and headed for Hinata's apartment.

The door clicked open and Hinata was first to walk through the door. She slipped out of her shoes. Naruto did the same. Hinata hung her coat on the coat rack.

"Naruto-kun, give me your coat." She said and Naruto did.

She hung it up and fluffed it up a bit. Naruto headed for her room and she followed. She had rearranged her room so that her bed wasn't on top of the heater (which was bad). Naruto sprawled out on her bed on his stomach while Hinata sat down on her rolling chair. He let out a big sigh of relief.

"Ahh, it's so comfortable!" He said. Hinata giggled.

"Hina-chan, come here." He said and patted on the spot. She looked at him for a bit and did as she was told. She sat on the edge of the bed. Naruto got up and sat next to her. She looked at him waiting to see what he wanted. Naruto looked at the ground for a minute and looked back at her and smiled.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing." He said and leaned in to kiss her.

XxXxXx

They finished up the last scoop. He felt calm and at ease.

"Gaara-kun, you should rest now." She said and laid the pillow back down so he can lay his head down. He struggle a bit to get comfortable.

"Does it hurt?" She asked trying to make it as comfortable as possible. She pulled the blanket over him.

"N-No. Just a bit. I can handle it." He said trying to hide the pain in his voice.

"Alright." She said not very convinced.

"Wait, where are you sleeping?" He said quickly.

"Probably on the ground."

"No, you should sleep here!" He said. _Ow..._His body had moved enough to cause pain when he was talking to her.

"I-I rather not. I might hurt you," She said with a her hands wavering in the air. "I have extra blankets so don't worry."

He didn't say another word. She went through her closet and grabbed the comforter blanket. He watched as she used the clothes on the floor as a mattress. What can he do? He's disabled and he's being taken care of by a woman who he started to get closer in less than six months.

She turned off the lights. Only the moon shined through her window.

"Oyasumi," she said.

"..."

It was quiet. Sakura closed her eyes trying to sleep.

"Sakura-san."

"Nani?" She said. Her eyes opened and she turned her head towards the direction of his voice.

"What happened to your room?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just looking for some stuff and... Well, I messed up my room! That's all." She fibbed trying to not make anything suspicious.

"You know lying won't get you anywhere." He said. "Your clothes are shredded, and there's a gash on the wall. Not to mention it looks more like attempted robbery to me.

_I guess you can't hide the details..._

She took a big deep breath before saying, "Yes, it was attempted robbery, but don't have to worry about it. They didn't take anything valuable. Everything's going to be alright."

There was a moment of silence.

"Why did you lie to me?"

"Because you are injured, and injuries don't heal easily if you are worried, so don't worry about me!" She said as she sat up to strictly tell him.

"You were a doctor before weren't you?"

"Yes, yes I was. Anymore questions? You need to rest."

"I have plenty," he replied. "What happened to me?"

Sakura sighed at his response before replying, "I don't know. You tell me. I found you in front of my restaurant. You almost caught a cold. It was snowing when I found you. Next question."

"When did you meet Naruto?"

"I've known him for quite a while, but the past few months I've gotten to know him better. We used to be classmates in high school." She said as she recalled her high school memories.

"You were famous before, no?"

"Me, famous? I highly doubt it. I've never been on the news or anything." She said with a laugh.

"I'm quite sure you were famous," he said. "What is your surname?"

"Haruno," she said. "Haruno Sakura"

"That's the name." He said as his mind clicked. "Dr. Haruno."

"That's me." She said as she smiled.

"Saved more than a thousand lives and you were instructed by the greatest doctor," he said. "Dr. Tsunade."

"I guess," she said. _I don't even keep track of how many i saved._

"You've left unfinished business, did you know?"

"What unfinished business?"

"It was a rumor that I heard." He said. "You and your sensei were creating a new drug."

"Yes, we were."

"Why did you stop?"

"Top secret information."

"..." He said.

"Any more questions?"

"Plenty." He said.

"Well, I've got questions for you too," she said in a sort of an annoyed manner.

"Like what?"

"Like, what company do you work for? Why are you giving me free money? Why are you helping me? Where are you from?" She said.

He took a small deep breath and said, "I was born and raised in Suna. I work for Suna corps. I gave you free money because, as I said before, I like your restaurant. It's nice and quiet and a place that nobody I know, knows. I'm helping you because I want to. Does that answer your questions?"

He doesn't like to get personal. His life is personal. He wasn't used to having anyone asking him his whereabouts.

"Yes."

"Good, my turn," he said quickly and they continued to question each other.

_This... will be a long night..._

XxXxXx

She blushed a heavenly pink glow. Naruto retreated first.

"Do you mind if I stay for the night?"

"No." Hinata said and she smiled. He kissed her on the cheek. He had left his clothes in her apartment before, since he had forgotten them.

"Arigato, Hina-chan." he said. She smiled again. Her eyes twinkled a bit.

"Naruto-kun, I need to go shower." she said as she got up and headed towards her closet.

"Alright." he said and sat back on the bed and relaxed a bit.

He then had an image of her in the shower when she was sick. My, wasn't she pretty, her beautiful, soft, skin. Oh, it's driving him mad. He wants her... so bad. She bent down to pick out her clothing, and he likes what he sees. He turned his head away to not stare since he was blushing already. Though, from the corner of his eye, he can see his, you know what, sticking up again. Hinata stood up with all her clothes held tightly against her chest. When she turned around to go to the bathroom, Naruto was there which surprised her and made her jump a bit. He quickly wrapped his arms around her and kissed her again. Her heart fluttered. He made his lips way down to her neck and began nibbling there. She could feel his arms pulling her against him tighter and closer. Eventually, she could feel his hands on her body.

Being tremendously aroused, Naruto used his hands to memorize the contour of her body. He can hear her whimper a bit. His lips traced back up to her ear and he began to nibble around it causing her to drop her clothes.

"N-Naruto!"

He immediately stopped.

"G-Gomen, Hina-chan..." he said shyly. She quickly picked her clothes up and ran for the bathroom. She quickly locked the door and with her back against the door, she glided down to the floor with her clothes still in her arms.

_Nanidatta no (what was that)?_

She placed her hand on her cheeks and can feel the heat of it. _So strong._

XxXxXx

_"Sakura, Nigeru (Get away)!" she said and she pushed her away. "Don't look back! Keep moving forward!" she disappeared into the darkness.  
><em>

_"Shishou!" she yelled back with her outstretched arm trying to reach for her. Tears were falling from her face._

_"Sakura, this way!"_

_She turned her head around and saw Gaara. He held her hand and pulled her along. They were in some kind of a long cave and they were running. It was dark and the only light were lamps hanging from the ceiling. It was very dim and quite hard to see. Though, she had good vision._

_"Sakura, it's going be alright!" a faint voice said. She turned her head to the opposite direction and saw Hinata._

_What's happening?_

_They ran and ran until they saw a light at the end of the tunnel. 'So bright.' Once they were outside, an injured Naruto was waiting for them, sitting on a rock. His nice clothing was ruffled and wrinkled. He had a bruised eye, and he had cuts and bruises everywhere. His breathing was short and he looked worn out._

_What's going on!?_

_She looked at her surroundings and noticed they were not in Konoha anymore. Where were they? She looked back to the cave._

_It suddenly exploded._

"SHISHOU!" She screamed and sat up. Sweat dripped from her face. Her hands were clenching on the blanket and she eyes were wide open.

"Sakura-san, are you alright?"

She faced the direction of the voice. She took a deep breath and said, "Y-Yeah, I'm fine."

"You aren't." he said and he sat up.

"You're not supposed to be moving so soon!" she said.

"The wound is almost gone, except for my hand of course." he said.

"Eh!?"

He unwrapped the bandaging that she had carefully done and there it was. The wound was healing well before. Now, it's almost gone. _How is that possible!?_

"That's impossible!" she said while trying to grasp it.

"I heal fast." he said and walked towards her. She was still sitting on her mattress made of clothes and looked up at him with curiosity. He knelt down on one leg and with one unbroken hand he wiped the tears that she had no clue she was shedding.

"You were crying in your sleep," he said. "I'll be leaving, so you can sleep on the bed."

He got up and grabbed his tux jacket that was laying on the clean part of the floor.

"Matte!" she said. "Where are you going? I still need to check you up!"

"Back to my office," he said slowly. "And find who did this to me. Check up and wait." He closed the door shut and the sounds of his footsteps disappeared slowly. _And who did this to you..._

Sakura stared as he left. _How can he just heal up that fast? It's impossible!_

Nonetheless, she got up and fell asleep on her bed. His warmth lingered on the bed.

XxXxXx

Hinata finished up taking a shower. She was nervous to meet him. After what he had done, how could she face him? She was not embarrassed, but preferably aroused. The way he was touching her, sparked her. She opened the door and stepped out. She heard the TV running and quickly she found Naruto sitting on the couch enjoying himself. He was watching a cop drama.

"Oh, Hinata, you finished?"

"Y-Yes." she replied.

"Alright," he said and got up and stretched a bit. She sat down on the couch and started to flip channels. Naruto, on the other hand, bent down and pecked her on the cheek, and she immediately turned bright red. Naruto chuckled a bit.

"Too cute, Hina-chan." he said before walking away.

_I... I... Ahh...!_

She placed both her hands on her cheeks and she could feel the burning sensation. She needed a distraction. She kept flipping channels until she found something she liked to watch.

Naruto, being in the shower turned the water to cold, so that he can feel the coolness of the water hitting his skin. Soothing, calming. It didn't take long for him to be finished. Quickly, he dried his hair and body. He put on his sleeping clothes and headed outside. He stretched a bit and walked to the living room where Hinata was. She had a pillow clutched under her arms.

"What'cha watching?"

"A drama called Son of a Mob."

"Any good?"

"I have t seen much, but I've seen Sakura-chan watching it sometimes. I think she likes it."

"Hm..."

After a while of watching it Naruto says, "I don't like it... It's too lovey stuff for me." He said.

"It must be a romance drama."

"Aren't you tired?"

"A little bit. I think I'll go sleep."

"Alright."

They both got up and went to separate bet rooms to brush their teeth. It was not long before they hit the bed. Though Naruto was quicker, and he was sitting on her bed, waiting for her. She enters her room and saw Naruto.

"Do you mind if I sleep in your room tonight?"

"N-Not really..." She said blushing.

"Come over here." He said. She sat on the bed next to him.

"D-Did I scare you b-before?" He asked sincerely.

"A-A little." She said.

"Gomen." He said.

"I-It's just that you scared me w-when you did that..." She said trying to comfort me. "I-It's not that I didn't like it, y-you just scared me..."

She was blushing, and she pulled up a pillow and hugged it while burying her face in it. He lifted her face and pecked her cheek. He was smiling, but his face turned a bit serious. Everything went a blur.

The next thing she realized she was on her bed and Naruto was on top of her. 'Ehh!?' She was surprised.

"Gomen, Hina-chan," he began. "But, I can't hide it."

"I'm turned on." He stated carefully.

"N-Naruto-k-kun," she said. "W-We're m-moving too f-fast. I-I'm n-not r-ready." Her face was flushed. She was happy that he's turned on, though the thought of having sex scared her.

"I know you aren't," he said and began to nibble on her ear. "But I'll be extra careful, gentle, slow, and I'll make you feel happy and pleasurable, unlike before. I promise."

He made his way down to the nape of her neck. Nibbling and sucking, he can hear her whimpering under him.

"Don't be so tense. Relax. Trust me, " he said and he can feel her relaxing her muscles. He began to hear her gasping.

He stopped what he was doing, looked at her and kissed her. She was taken by surprise. Using his hand, he slowly traveled under her shirt. Hinata gasped which allowed entrance for Naruto. He inserted his tongue and played with hers. Hinata began to grow hot and warm. She could hear her pulse beating. She can feel Naruto slowly creeping up her shirt. What is this feeling she's experiencing? It's was strong.

"Aishiteru..." He uttered very inaudibly.

He began to lift her shirt up.

"W-Wait!" She shouted. "T-Turn off the lights."

He stared at her for a moment before smiling, then got up and did as he was told. Only the dim night light gave light. He walked back, and stripped his shirt and pants leaving him in his orange and black boxers. He flipped her over, so she was lying on her stomach which earned him a yelp from her.

"Trust me," he said once again noticing that she was in fear.

He gently and slowly lifted her shirt, showing her back. Everything under the dim night light made her look flawless. Oh, so sexy. He began to trail butterfly kisses until he reached her bra. He unhooked it and he licked her skin. She could feel him kissing her and his tongue licking her back. Her heart pounded when he unhooked her bra, and she can feel new sensations. His hand was on her back, massaging in places, calming her. She felt relaxed. He rubbed in circles with his thumb while having his hands on her hips. She can feel him slowly moving his hands along her sides slowly up and down. He licked her again, stroking her with his tongue. He left butterfly kisses down her back. He flipped her over gently and with his hands, from her hips, he slowly made his way to her chest. Eventually, he gently massaged one of her breasts, which made her moan in his mouth and gave entry for his tongue once again.

He then trailed down her chin, neck, licked her collar bone before she gasped at the sensation she was feeling. He lifted up her bra higher, and he began to lick her nipple. She could not believe what she was feeling. It soared throughout her entire body, making her feel tremendously aroused and wanting more. Without even realizing what she was doing, her hands made its way to his hair, ruffling it. She moaned out his name. She is quite happy what Naruto is doing to her, though scared of what was going to happy since Naruto is quite aroused, himself. He flicked her nipples a couple of times earning a gasp from her lips, and with his tongue and trailed down to her stomach. He then used his hands to touch her naked torso and hip. Naruto used his fingers to fondle her breasts, increasing Hinata's desires. Each time she moaned, he can feel himself getting harder. He began to remove her pants slowly, making sure he's not scaring his woman. He went up and kissed her lustfully, inserting his tongue in and putting on a display of dominance but still being docile.

Once the pants came off he lifted her up, so that she was facing him. Even though it was dark, he could tell that her face was completely red. He pecked her on the cheek, and his arms went wild and was touching and rubbing all over her back. He nibbled her ear again and slowly without her realizing it, he pulled off her shirt with her bra attached to it and threw it on the ground along with her pants. All that was left was her underwear. She quickly covered precious parts with her hands. Naruto kissed her again.

"So beautiful..." he mumbled. He then laid her back down where her hands still covered her parts. She was whimpering again.

"It's only going to be me, and only me, because I'll be the only one to see you like this and no one else." he said sternly. He traveled to her legs and tried to pry them open, but she won't let him. Instead, he began to lick her thighs, hips, and inner thighs giving Hinata new senses to experience again. He lifted her underwear using his teeth, only to have it snap back on her skin which earned him a yelp. Oh, how he loves her voice. He wants to hear more from her soft lips. He used his hand to have a good grasp at her fine hips, he used his thumbs and massaged in circles, enlightening her with new senses. He then slowly used one of his fingers and tried to slip them in between her thighs which caused her to uncover her breasts that she had been hiding and jolted up, only for Naruto to capture her lips. They both moaned in each others mouth, knowing that the other is quite excited, and with that, Naruto attacked.

While still kissing her, he quickly pushed her back down and had her hands above her head with one hand. Her legs were pried open and with his other free hand he traced her neck to her chin. He retreated from the kiss.

"Don't doubt me." he said gently as he looked into her eyes. What is it with him? Was it because he was so influenced by what had happened at the movie theaters that it has come to this? What is it that drove him crazy? He leaned down to her breast and started to lick them again. He blew chill air upon her nipples that made her grew goose bumps and shivered. She was not like any other woman he's seen. He knew she was special when they had first met. She gasped at the chills he have. He flicked her nipples once again with his tongue. He realized that she was big, but not unrealistically big. Her breasts were big enough to hold in his hand to squeeze.

"Ahh~!"

_More..._He squeezed her breast again while licking her other nipple which caused her to arch her back under him and let out another sound from her beautiful voice. He then let his finger travel to where her underwear was. He then touched the spot.

"N-Naruto, I'm scared!" She said quickly.

"Don't be. It's only going to be me." He said and kissed her softly while rubbing her clit through the fabric. Her body twitched and he watched her face and analyzed how she reacts. Her breathing became shorter and her sweet voice were music to his ears. He rubbed faster directing it all in one spot on her clit and he could see her sweating. Oh the vibrations! She arched her back and cried out his name in ecstasy.

**SPLASH**

"That wasn't so bad now, was it?" He whispered in her ear. She was breathing hard for air and sweat trickled down her oh so sexy body. He could see her breasts rising up and down. Not to mention she was soaking through her underwear, and he can feel it.

He understands how she just can't easily forget about her past and understands her level of confidence. She's been doing so well, but let him take it up a notch. He began to remove her underwear. Her face was burning up. Her arms were still pinned above her head by his hand, but he finally released them. He threw her underwear on the ground. Under the dim lighting, he could see her head facing the other direction.

"Open your legs," he commanded. She slowly opened them allowing him to see everything.

"Don't be so tense." He said, licking her inner thigh and responded quivering. He looked closely at her precious spot and said, "Pretty."

She heard what he said and her face was hot again. His tongue made its way towards her warm spot. He kissed it and sent shock waves to her body and she gasped out loud. She can feel his tongue licking her and playing with her clitoris.

"Ahh~!"

She can't control herself anymore. She cried out his name several times. Her hands ruffled his hair, grabbing, pulling, and tousling it between her fingers. He liked how hot and ready she was, and how much essence she had created. She tasted delicious like vanilla cream. He inserts his tongue in her and moving it in and out. It had felt weird at first, but after a while she was in pure bliss. She was calling and gasping his name again. After a while, he picked up speed, and her muscles slowly tensed. Her breathing became short again and the immense pleasure overwhelmed her that she jolted up and looked down at Naruto. He was happily eating her away, swallowing her essence that flowed out of her. He lifted his head up and kissed her, inserting his tongue in letting her taste how she tasted, and she was quite shocked. Though, this time, she joined him in his battle of dominance, which surprised Naruto. Not only that, he felt himself getting harder. He pushed her back down; she fell on the bed with an, "Oof!"

**RUSTLE**

He took off his boxer. She tried to get back up again, but Naruto's body was pressing against hers and he whispered, "I can't promise you that it won't hurt, because... it will." and he began to kiss her all over again, while her heart pounded against her chest.

**BA-BUMP  
><strong>  
><strong>BA-BUMP<br>**  
>He was on all fours and he lined his sex organ at her entrance. He prodded it a few times, and rubbed her area a bit. He slowly and carefully entered her.<p>

**BU-BUMP**

His tongue was trying to distract her from what she was going to experience. Though she can not help, but she had think about it. He moved in slowly again, though not all the way,, and she can feel the pain about to come. Her hands grabbed onto him. Thinking that she was distracted enough, he slowly went in all the way without stopping. He realized how very tight she was and his eyes shot open in shock, and almost immediately tears began to form. He groaned in her mouth. She almost broke away from the kiss again, but Naruto kept her still even though she was cringing in pain. Her hands were on his back, and he can feel her nails beginning to scrape him from pain, but instead her hands curled up into a fist and lay beside her. He broke off the kiss, and he could see her face in pain. Her tears began to fall down her face, and he kissed them.

"I'm going to move," He said. "Tell me if it hurts too much." He thrust once and he heard her yelp. "Should I stop?" fearing that he was hurting her more than he had expected.

"N-No," she replied through her pain. "Keep going." And he thrust again and stopped. He waited for a moment and continued doing that pattern for a while. Once she had gotten used to it, her tears were gone and she started to enjoy it. She slowly found it pleasurable as her body began to mold into shape. She began to pant and sweat again in which he began to grow harder and she could feel it inside her, heating her up. He began to pant, trying to outlast her, knowing it was going to be tough. He could feel her getting hotter and he picked up his pace a bit faster. Her body began to stir over again. He bent down and inserted his tongue in her mouth, though not being able to fully kiss her lips, they played with each other in the air. She was feeling great pleasure from her lover. As he picked up the pace again she arched her back, closed her eyes and cried out his name.

"NARUTO-KUN!"

**SPLASH**

He could feel her wetness flowing out, but he wasn't done yet. He still needs to release.

"Are you tired already?" He asked.

"N-Not really." She said basking in the after effects of the wonderful bliss she just experienced.

"I'm going to do it again." he said.

"Eh?" was all she said before she was flipped over on her stomach and felt her lower body being lifted up, even though her torso remained flat on the bed. He was in her again, and not long after he began to sweat and pant. He was groaning and whispering her name in between. She could feel the pleasure building up again, but most of all, she could feel him throbbing, pulsing, and her body began to stir once again. He lined her hips right and he hit that warm spot inside her. He heard her gasp and she had arched her back knowing it was the perfect spot. A moment later, he picked up his pace and thrusted faster and deeper. Sweat dripped down from his body. His face was flushed and he chanted her name out more clearly. He gave one big thrust and closed his eyes, but only to have them shot open again.

"H-HINATA!" he screamed with lust, and realized what had happened.

She had squeezed her lower pelvic muscles that wrapped around him, causing her to release. Though, because of the tightness, he felt a rapturous pleasure overflowing through him which caused him to release inside her.

They both were panting out loudly. Hinata flipped herself over and Naruto kissed her. She allowed him to enter and they played with each other for a moment. When they were done, Naruto rolled off to the side and pulled up the blanket and covered both of them, while the clock struck twelve.

"Aishiteru."

He looked at her with widen eyes and asked, "Nani?"

She turned her head towards him and managed to say through her pants, "Aishiteru."

"Aishiteru, Naruto!" she said and smiled. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

He was amazed at her. They both made a memorable kiss before letting their need for sleep take over.

ZzZzZz

"_SHISHOU!" she shouted as her voice could not carry over through the sounds of rocks falling. Everyone was surprised at the explosion. Hinata and the injured Naruto held Sakura back. She was trying to go towards where her master is._

_"SHISHOU!" she yelled again. "Let me go! Shishou!"_

_"Sakura-chan!" Hinata said and blocked her way. She quickly wrapped her arms around her best friend. "It's going to be alright. Stay strong."_

_"Shishou..." she said in a small voice. Her endless streams of tears flowed and dripped to the ground, and she buried her face in her best friend's body._

_"She's alive." Naruto said with his famous chagrin. "Believe it."_

_She quickly wiped her tears. "N-Naruto-kun..." she grabbed onto him and hugged him with all her heart. Why was she hugging him? Was it because he was alive? She had no clue, but she feels extremely sad. Every time her heart beat, all she could feel was pain and the tears kept falling._

_"You want to save your master?" Gaara said as he walked up to them with his hands in his pockets. He was wearing another tux, though different from the previous that he's worn. The one he was wearing looked a bit old, and torn._

_"Nani?"_

_"She's alive, isn't she?" he said. "We have to go find her." and he held out his hand._

She stirred a bit in her sleep, and shifted sleeping positions.  
><em><br>"Sakura!" someone screamed a bloodcurdling scream of her name. It sounded familiar, but her mind could not figure out who it was. Her body was impaled by a long knife. Her head turned towards the source of the sound. It was just a shadow casting against the cave entrance. She was lying on a cold slab of stone that served as a table. Her body felt cold. Was she naked? She looked at what it was that was in front of her. A man, a glimmer of porcelain skin and a piece of red hair was all that she could make out. His hand was on the knife. He removed it from her, which fired up the pain in her wound. She could feel how she's gushing out blood from her chest and mouth. Her conscious was slowly fading __away as she closed her eyes._

"_SAKURA!" she heard her name being screamed reverberating through the cave._

She woke up with a jolt. She was breathing fast and sweat slid down her face.

_Just a dream..._

* * *

><p><em><em>**Gomen... I suddenly fell into a pit full of work, that i couldn't just climb my way up.  
><strong>

**Though, i had been working on this chapter for over a year. My iPod get being screwy with me and would delete a paragraph or two (one time it deleted everything i wrote!) and that just kills my motivation.  
><strong>

**Well, I've updated! PLEASE review!  
><strong>


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